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SKETCH    MAP    OF    ARCTIC    REGIONS    AT    THE    TIME    OF    FRANKLIN'S   LAST    EXPEDITION. 


SKETCH    MAP    OF    THE    DRIFT    OF    THE    '  FOX  '    DOWN    BAFFIN'S    BAT    IN 
THE    FLOATING   ICE. 


TheVoyage  of  the  'Fox'  in  the  Arctic  Seas. 


A  NARRATIVE 


DISCOVERY   OF    THE    FATE 


SIR    JOHN    FRANKLIN 


HIS    COMPANIONS, 


By   CAPTAIN   M'CLINTOCK,    KN,  LL.D. 


JOHN 


WtiX\  Paps  an&  Illustrations. 

LONDON: 
URRAY,   ALBEMARLE    STREET, 

PUBLISHER    TO     THE    ADMIRALTY. 

1859. 


The  right  of  Translation  is  reserved 


LIST  OF  OFFICEES  AND  SHIP'S  COMPANY  OF 
THE  <FOX.' 


F.  L.  M'Clintock 
W.  E.  Hobson  . . 
Allen  W.  Young  .. 
David  Walker,  M.D 

George  Brands  .. 
Carl  Petersen  .. 
Thomas  Blackwell 
Wm.  Harvey  ..  .. 
Henry  Toms  ..  .. 
Alex.  Thompson  .. 
John  Simmonds  . . 
George  Edwards  . . 
Robert  Scott..  .. 
Thomas  Grinstead 
George  Hobday  . . 
Eobert  Hampton  . . 
John  A.  Haselton 
George  Carey 
Ben.  Pound  ..  .. 
Wm.  Walters 

Wm.  Jones 

James  Pitcher 
Thomas  Florance 
elchard  shingleton 
Anton  Christian  . . 
Samuel  Emanuel  .. 


Captain  E.N. 

Lieutenant  B.N. 

Captain,  Mercantile  Marine. 

Surgeon  and  Naturalist. 

-n,     •  (Died   6th   Nov.    1858 

Engineer       {     (Apoplexy). 

Interpreter. 

Q1  .  ,    c,         ,  (Died  14th  June,  1859 

Ships  Steward    ..    ..   {     (Scurvy). 

Chief  Quartermaster. 

Quartermaster. 


Boatswain's  Mate. 
Carpenter's  Mate. 
Leading  Stoker  .. 
Sailniaker. 
Captain  of  Hold. 
A.  B. 


Carpenter's  Crew. 
Dog- driver. 

J  Stokers. 

Officers'  Steward. 


(Died  4th  Dec.  1857  (in 
1    consequence  of  a  fall). 


n  ,  „       .  (Discharged  in   Green- 

Greenland  Lsquimaux  {     ■>     ,  ° 


h  2 


OFFICIAL  ACKNOWLEDGMENT  OF  THE 
SEKVICES  OF  THE  YACHT  <  FOX.' 


Admiralty,  London, 
Sm,  24^  Oct.  1859. 

I  am  commanded  by  my  Lords  Commissioners 
of  the  Admiralty  to  acquaint  you,  that,  in  consideration 
of  the  important  services  performed  by  you  in  bringing 
home  the  only  authentic  intelligence  of  the  death  of  the 
late  Sir  John  Franklin,  and  of  the  fate  of  the  crews 
of  the  '  Erebus '  and  i  Terror,'  Her  Majesty  has  been 
pleased,  by  her  order  in  Council  of  the  22nd  instant, 
to  sanction  the  time  during  which  you  were  absent 
on  these  discoveries  in  the  Arctic  Kegions,  viz.  from 
the  30th  June  1857  to  the  21st  September  1859,  to 
reckon  as  time  served  by  a  captain  in  command  of  one 
of  Her  Majesty's  ships,  and  my  Lords  have  given  the 
necessary  directions  accordingly. 

I  am,  Sir, 

Your  very  humble  servant, 

W.  G.  EOMAINE, 

Secretary  to  the  Admiralty. 

Captain  Francis  L.  M'Clintock,  R.N. 


(oh5 


*j  i 


MI3 
DEDICATION. 


My  deAe  Lady  Feanklin, 

There  is  no  one  to  whom  I  could  with  so  much 
propriety  or  willingness  dedicate  my  Journal  as  to 
you.  For  you  it  was  originally  written,  and  to  please 
you  it  now  appears  in  print. 

To  our  mutual  friend,  Sheeaed  Osboen,  I  am 
greatly  obliged  for  his  kindness  in  seeing  it  through 
the  press — a  labour  I  could  not  have  settled  down  to  so 
soon  after  my  return ;  and  also  for  pointing  out  some 
omissions  and  technicalities  which  would  have  rendered 
parts  of  it  unintelligible  to  an  ordinary  reader.  These 
kind  hints  have  been  but  partially  attended  to,  and,  as 
time  presses,  it  appears  with  the  mass  of  its  original 
imperfections,  as  when  you  read  it  in  manuscript.  Such 
as  it  is,  however,  it  affords  me  this  valued  opportunity 
of  assuring  you  of  the  real  gratification  I  feel  in  having 
been  instrumental  in  accomplishing  an  object  so  dear  to 
you.  To  your  devotion  and  self-sacrifice  the  world  is 
indebted  for  the  deeply-interesting  revelation  unfolded 
by  the  voyage  of  the  '  Fox.' 

Believe  me  to  be, 
With  sincere  respect,  most  faithfully  yours, 

F.  L.  M'CLINTOCK. 

London,  24th  Nov.  1859. 


1004628 


PREFACE.  xi 

lead  us  to  hope  for  a  successful  issue.  Above 
all,  we  were  encouraged  by  the  proofs  of  the 
self-possession  and  calm  resolve  of  M'Clintock, 
who  held  steadily  to  the  accomplishment  of  his 
original  project ;  the  more  so  as  he  had  then 
tested  and  recognised  the  value  of  the  services 
of  Lieutenant  (now  Commander)  Hobson,  his 
able  second  in  command ;  of  Captain  Allen 
Young,  his  generous  volunteer  associate  ;*  and 
of  Dr.  Walker,  his  accomplished  Surgeon. 

Despite,  however,  of  these  reassuring  data, 
many  an  advocate  of  this  search  was  anxiously 
alive  to  the  chance  of  the  failure  of  the  venture 
of  one  unassisted  yacht,  which  after  sundry 
mishaps  was  again  starting  to  cross  Baffin's 
Bay,  with  the  foreknowledge,  that  when  she 
reached  the  opposite  coast,  the  real  difficulties  of 
the  enterprise  were  to  commence. 

Any  such  misgivings  were  happily  illusory  ; 
and  the  reader  who  follows  M'Clintock  across 
the  "  middle  ice"  of  Baffin's  Bay  to  Pond  Inlet, 
thence  to  Beechey  Island,  down  a  portion  of 
Peel  Strait,  and  then  through  the  hitherto  un- 
navigated  waters  of  Bellot  Strait  in  one  summer 


*  Captain  Allen  Young  of  the  merchant  marine  not  only  threw 
his  services  into  this  cause,  and  subscribed  500?.  in  furtherance  of 
the  expedition,  but,  abandoning  lucrative  appointments  in  com- 
mand, generously  accepted  a  subordinate  post. 


xii  PREFACE. 

season,  may  reasonably  expect  the  success  which 
followed. 

Whilst  the  revelation  obtained  from  the  long- 
sought  records,  which  were  discovered  by  Lieu- 
tenant Hobson,  is  most  satisfactory  to  those  who 
speculated  on  the  probability  of  Franklin  hav- 
ing, in  the  first  instance,  tried  to  force  his  way 
northwards  through  Wellington  Channel  (as 
we  now  learn  he  did),  those  who  held  a  dif- 
ferent hypothesis,  namely,  that  he  followed  his 
instructions,  which  directed  him  to  the  S.-W., 
may  be  amply  satisfied,  that  in  the  following 
season  the  ships  did  pursue  this  southerly  course 
till  they  were  finally  beset  in  N.  lat.  70°  05'.* 

At  the  same  time,  the  public  should  fully  under- 
stand the  motive  which  prompted  the  supporters 
of  Lady  Franklin  in  advocating  this  last  search. 
Putting  aside  the  hope  which  some  of  us  enter- 
tained, that  a  few  of  the  younger  men  of  the 
missing  expedition  might  still  be   found  to  be 

*  For  a  resume  of  all  the  plans  of  researcli  and  the  speculations 
of  seamen  and  geographers,  see  the  interesting  and  most  useful 
volume  of  Mr.  John  Brown,  entitled,  '  The  North- West  Passage  and 
Search  after  Sir  John  Franklin,'  1858.  In  an  Appendix  to  this  work 
we  learn,  that  from  the  earliest  Polar  researches  by  John  Cabot,  at 
the  end  of  the  15th  century,  to  the  voyage  of  M'Clintock,  there  have 
been  about  130  expeditions,  illustrated  by  250  books  and  printed 
documents,  of  which  150  have  been  issued  in  England.  Amidst 
the  various  recent  publications,  it  is  but  rendering  justice  to  Dr. 
King,  the  former  companion  of  Sir  George  Back,  to  state  that  he 
suggested  and  always  maintained  the  necessity  of  a  search  for  the 
missing  navigators  at  or  near  the  mouth  of  the  Back  River, 


PllEFACE.  xiii 

living  among  the  Esquimaux,  we  had  every  rea- 
son to  expect,  that  if  the  ships  were  discovered,  the 
scientific  documents  of  the  voyage,  including  valu- 
able magnetic  observations,  would  be  recovered. 

In  the  absence  of  such  good  fortune  we  may, 
however,  well  be  gladdened  by  the  discovery  of 
that  one  precious  document  which  gives  us  a 
true  outline  of  the  voyage  of  the  '  Erebus '  and 
'  Terror.' 

That  the  reader  may  comprehend  the  vast 
extent  of  sea  traversed  by  Franklin  in  the  two 
summers  before  his  ships  were  beset,  a  small 
map  (No.  2)  is  here  introduced  representing  all 
the  lands  and  seas  of  the  Arctic  regions  to  the 
west  of  Lancaster  Sound  which  were  known 
and  laid  down  when  he  sailed.  The  dotted 
lines  and  arrows,  which  extend  from  the  then 
known  seas  and  lands  into  the  unknown  waters 
or  blank  spaces  on  this  old  map  indicate 
Franklin's  route,  the  novelty,  range,  rapidity, 
and  boldness  of  which,  as  thus  delineated,  may 
well  surprise  the  geographer,  and  even  the  most 
enterprising   Arctic    sailor.*      For,  those  who 


*  The  letter  A  in  Baffin  Bay  (fig.  1)  indicates  the  spot  where 
Franklin  was  last  seen.  In  fig.  2,  B  is  the  winter  rendezvous  at 
Beechey  Island  ;  C,  the  greatest  northing  of  the  expedition,  viz. 
77°  N.  lat.  ;  Z,  the  final  beset  of  the  '  Erebus '  and  '  Terror ;' 
the  extreme  north  and  south  points  of  their  voyage  being  repre- 
sented by  two  small  ships. 


xiv  PREFACE. 

have  not  closely  attended  to  the  results  of  other 
Arctic  voyages  may  be  informed,  that  rarely 
has  an  expedition  in  the  first  year  accomplished 
more  by  its  ships,  than  the  establishing  of  good 
winter  quarters,  from  whence  the  real  researches 
began  by  sledge-work  in  the  ensuing  spring. 
Franklin,  however,  not  only  reached  Beech ey 
Island,  but  ascended  Wellington  Channel,  then 
an  unknown  sea,  to  77°  N.  lat.,  a  more  northern 
latitude  in  this  meridian  than  that  attained  long 
afterwards  in  ships  by  Sir  Edward  Belcher,  and 
much  to  the  north  of  the  points  reached  by 
Penny  and  De  Haven.  Next,  though  most 
scantily  provided  with  steam-power,  Franklin 
navigated  round  Cornwallis'  Land,  which  he 
thus  proved  to  be  an  island.  This  last  dis- 
covery of  a  navigable  channel  throughout,  be- 
tween Cornwallis  and  Bathurst  Islands,  though 
made  in  the  very  summer  he  left  England,  has 
remained  even  to  this  day  unknown  to  other 
navigators ! 

Franklin  then,  in  obedience  to  his  orders, 
steered  to  the  south-west.  Passing,  as  M'Clintock 
believes,  down  Peel's  Strait  in  1846,  and  reach- 
ing as  far  as  lat.  70°  05'  N.,  and  long.  98°  23'  W., 
where  the  ships  were  beset,  it  is  clear  that  he, 
who,  with  others,  had  previously  ascertained 
the  existence  of  a  channel  along  the  north  coast 


PREFACE.  xv 

of  America,  with  which  the  sea  wherein  he  was 
interred  had  a  direct  communication,  was  the 
first  real  discoverer  of  the  North -West  Passage. 
This  great  fact  must  therefore  be  inscribed  upon 
the  monument  of  Franklin. 

The  adventurous  M'Clure,  who  has  been 
worthily  honoured  for  working  out  another 
North- Western  passage,  which  we  now  know 
to  have  been  of  subsequent  date,*  as  well  as 
Collinson,  who,  taking  the  '  Enterprise'  along 
the  north  coast  of  America,  and  afterwards 
bringing  her  home,  reached  with  sledges  the 
western  edge  of  the  area  recently  laid  open 
by  M'Clintock,  will  I  have  no  doubt  unite  with 
their  Arctic  associates,  Eichardson,  Sherard 
Osborn,  and  M'Clintock,  in  affirming,  that 
'-  Franklin  and  his  followers  secured  the  honour 
for  which  they  died  —  that  of  being  the  first 
discoverers  of  the  North- West  Passage."  f 


*  In  1850. 

f  See  a  most  heart-stirring  sketch  of  the  last  voyage  of  Sir  John 
Franklin  by  Captain  Sherard  Osborn,  in  the  periodical  Once  a 
Week,  of  the  22nd  and  29th  October  and  5th  November  last.  Pos- 
sessing a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  Arctic  regions,  this  dis- 
tinguished seaman  has  shown  more  than  his  ordinary  power  of 
description,  in  placing  before  the  public  his  conception  of  what  may 
have  been  the  chief  occurrences  in  the  voyage  of  the  '  Erebus '  and 
'  Terror,'  and  the  last  days  of  Franklin,  as  founded  upon  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  character  of  the  chief  and  his  associates,  and  the 
record  and  relics  obtained  by  M'Clintock.  This  sketch  is  pre- 
faced by  a  spirited  and  graceful  outline  of  all  previous  geographical 
discoveries,  from  the  day  when  they  were  originated  by  the  father 


xvi  PREFACE. 

Again,  when  we  turn  from  the  discoveries 
of  Franklin  to  those  of  M'Clintock,  as  mapped 
in  red  colours  on  the  general  map,  on  which 
is  represented  the  amount  of  outline  laid  down 
by  all  other  Arctic  explorers  from  the  days 
when  these  modern  researches  originated  with 
Sir  John  Barrow,  we  perceive  that,  in  addition 
to  the  discovery  of  the  course  followed  by  the 
'  Erebus '  and  6  Terror/  some  most  important 
geographical  data  have  been  accumulated  by 
the  last  expedition  of  Lady  Franklin. 

Thus,  M'Clintock  has  proved,  that  the  strait 
named  by  Kenedy  in  an  earlier  private  expe- 
dition of  Lady  Franklin  after  his  companion  the 
brave  Lieutenant  Bellot,  and  which  has  hitherto 
been  regarded  only  as  an  impassable  frozen 
channel,  or  ignored  as  a  channel  at  all,  is  a 
navigable  strait,  the  south  shore  of  which  is 
thus  seen  to  be  the  northernmost  land  of  the 
continent  of  America. 

M'Clintock  has  also  laid  down  the  hitherto 
unknown  coast-line  of  Boothia,  southwards  from 
Bellot  Strait  to  the  Magnetic  Pole,  has  deline- 
ated the  whole  of  King  William's  Island,  and 


of  all  modern  Arctic  enterprise,  Sir  John  Barrow,  to  whom,  and 
to  many  other  eminent  persons,  from  Sir  Edward  Parry  downwards, 
I  have  in  various  Geographical  Addresses  offered  the  tribute  of  my 
admiration. 


PREFACE.  xvii 

opened  a  new  and  capacious,  though  ice-choked 
channel,  suspected  before,  but  not  proved,  to 
exist,  extending  from  Victoria  Strait  in  a  north- 
west direction  to  Melville  or  Parry  Sound.  The 
latter  discovery  rewarded  the  individual  exer- 
tions of  Captain  Allen  Young,  but  will  very 
properly,  at  Lady  Franklin's  request,  bear  the 
name  of  the  leader  of  the  6  Fox '  expedition, 
who  had  himself  assigned  to  it  the  name  of  the 
widow  of  Franklin.* 

Neither  has  the  expedition  been  unproductive 
of  scientific  results.  For,  whilst  many  persons 
will  be  interested  in  the  popular  descriptions  of 
the  native  Esquimaux,  as  well  as  of  the  lower 
animals,  the  man  of  science  will  hereafter  be 
further  gratified  by  having  presented  to  him, 
in  the  form  of  an  additional  Appendix,f  most 
valuable  details  relating  to  the  zoology,  botany, 
meteorology,  and  especially  to  the  terrestrial 
magnetism,  of  the  region  examined. 

Lastly,  M'Clintock  has  convinced  himself,  that 
the  best  way  of  securing  the  passage  of  a  ship 


*  In  his  volume  before  cited,  p.  xii.,  Mr.  John  Brown  gave  strong 
reasons  (which  he  had  held  for  some  time)  for  "believing  in  the  ex- 
istence of  the  very  channel  which  now  bears  the  name  of  M'Clintock. 
It  is,  however,  the  opinion  both  of  that  officer  and  his  associates,  as 
also  of  Captain  Sherard  Osborn,  that  Franklin  could  not  have  reached 
the  spot  where  his  ships  were  beset  by  proceeding  down  that  ice- 
choked  channel,  but  that  he  must  have  sailed  down  Peel  Sound. 

t  Much  of  this  Appendix  will  be  prepared  by  Dr.  David  Walker. 


xviii  PREFACE. 

from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  is  by  following, 
as  near  as  possible,  the  coast-line  of  North 
America  :  indeed,  it  is  his  opinion,  founded 
upon  a  large  experience,  that  no  passage  by 
a  ship  can  ever  be  accomplished  in  a  more 
northern  direction.  This  it  is  well  known  was 
the  favourite  theory  of  Franklin,  who  had  him- 
self, along  with  Richardson,  Back,  Beechey, 
Dease,  Simpson,  and  Rae,  surveyed  the  whole 
of  that  same  North  American  coast  from  the 
Back  or  Great  Fish  Biver  to  Behring  Strait. 
Thus,  when  Franklin  sailed,  in  1845,  the  dis- 
covery of  a  North- West  Passage  was  reduced 
to  the  finding  a  link  between  the  latter  survey 
and  the  discoveries  of  Parry,  who  had  already, 
to  his  great  renown,  opened  the  first  half  of  a 
more  northern  course  from  east  to  west,  when 
he  was  arrested  by  the  impenetrable  ice-barrier 
at  Melville  Island. 

And  here  it  is  to  be  remembered,  that  the 
tract  in  which  the  record  and  the  relics  have 
been  found,  is  just  that  to  which  Lady  Franklin 
herself  specially  directed  Kenedy,  the  com- 
mander of  the  '  Prince  Albert,'  in  her  second 
private  expedition  in  1852 ;  and  had  that  in- 
trepid explorer  not  been  induced  to  search 
northwards  of  Bellot  Strait,  but  had  felt  him- 
self able  to  follow  the  course  indicated  by  his 


PREFACE.  xix 

sagacious  employer,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that 
much  more  satisfactory  results  would  have  been 
obtained  than  those  which,  after  a  lapse  of  seven 
years,  have  now  been  realized  by  the  undaunted 
perseverance  of  Lady  Franklin,  and  the  skill 
and  courage  of  M'Clintock. 

The  natural  modesty  of  this  commander  has, 
I  am  bound  to  say,  prevented  his  doing  common 
justice,  in  the  following  journal,  to  his  own  con- 
duct— conduct  which  can  be  estimated  by  those 
only  who  have  listened  to  the  testimony  of  the 
officers  serving  with  and  under  the  man,  whose 
great  qualities  in  moments  of  extreme  peril 
elicited  their  heartiest  admiration  and  ensured 
their  perfect  confidence. 

In  writing  this  Preface  (which  I  do  at  the 
request  of  the  promoters  of  the  last  search),  I 
may  state  that,  having  occupied  the  Chair  of 
the  Koyal  Geographical  Society  in  1845,  when 
my  cherished  friend,  Sir  John  Franklin,  went 
forth  for  the  third  time  to  seek  a  North- West 
passage,  it  became  my  bounden  duty  in  sub- 
sequent years,  when  his  absence  created  much 
anxiety,  and  when  I  re-occupied  the  same  posi- 
tion, ardently  to  promote  the  employment  of 
searching  expeditions,  and  warmly  to  sustain 
Lady  Franklin's  endeavours  in  this  holy  cause. 

Imbued  with   such   feelings,  I  must  be  per- 

c 


xx  PEEFACE. 

mitted  to  say,  that  no  event  in  my  life  gave 
me  purer  delight,  than  when  Captain  Collinson, 
whose  labours  to  support  and  carry  out  this  last 
search  have  been  signally  serviceable,  forwarded 
to  me  a  telegram  to  be  communicated  to  the 
British  Association  at  Aberdeen  announcing  the 
success  of  M'Clintock.  That  document  reached 
Balmoral  on  the  2 2nd- of  September  last,  when 
the  men  of  science  were  invited  thither  by  their 
Sovereign.  Great  was  the  satisfaction  caused 
by  the  diffusion  of  these  good  tidings  among 
my  associates  (the  distinguished  Arctic  explorers 
Admiral  Sir  James  Eoss  and  General  Sabine 
being  present)  ;  and  it  was  most  cheering  to 
us  to  know,  that  the  Queen  and  our  Eoyal 
President*  took  the  deepest  interest  in  this  in- 
telligence —  such  as,  indeed,  they  have  always 
evinced  whenever  the  search  for  the  missing 
navigators  has  been  brought  under  their  con- 
sideration.     The    immediate    bestowal    of   the 


*  At  the  Aberdeen  meeting  the  Prince  Consort  thus  spoke : — 
"  The  Aberdeen  whaler  braves  the  icy  regions  of  the  Polar  sea  to 
seek  and  to  battle  with  the  great  monster  of  the  deep  ;  he  has 
materially  assisted  in  opening  these  icebound  regions  to  the  re- 
searches of  science  ;  he  fearlessly  aided  in  the  search  after  Sir  John 
Franklin  and  his  gallant  companions  whom  their  country  sent 
forth  on  this  mission ;  but  to  whom  Providence,  alas !  has  denied  the 
reward  of  their  labours,  the  return  to  their  homes,  to  the  affectionate 
embrace  of  their  families  and  friends,  and  the  acknowledgments 
of  a  grateful  nation." 


PREFACE.  xxi 

Arctic  medal  upon  all  the  officers  and  men  of 
the  '  Fox '  is  a  pleasing  proof  that  this  interest 
is  well  sustained. 

But  these  few  introductory  sentences  must 
not  be  extended ;  and  I  invite  the  reader  at 
once  to  peruse  the  Journal  of  M'Clintock,  which 
will  gratify  every  lover  of  truthful  and  ardent 
research,  though  it  will  leave  him  impressed 
with  the  sad  belief,  that  the  end  of  the  com- 
panions of  Franklin  has  been  truly  recorded 
by  the  native  Esquimaux,  who  saw  these  noble 
fellows  "  fall  down  and  die  as  they  walked 
along  the  ice." 

Looking  to  the'  fact,  that  little  or  no  fresh 
food  could  have  been  obtained  by  the  crews  of 
the  6  Erebus '  and  '  Terror '  during  their  long 
imprisonment  of  twenty  months,  in  so  fright- 
fully sterile  a  region  as  that  in  which  the  ships 
were  abandoned,  —  so  sterile  that  it  is  even  de- 
serted by  the  Esquimaux, — and  also  to  the  want 
of  sustenance  in  spring  at  the  mouth  of  the  Back 
Biver,  all  the  Arctic  naval  authorities  with  whom 
I  have  conversed,  coincide  with  M'Clintock  and 
his  associates  in  the  belief,  that  none  of  the 
missing  navigators  can  be  now  living. 

Painful  as  is  the  realisation  of  this  tragic 
event,  let  us  now  dwell  only  on  the  reflection 
that,  while  the  North- West   passage   has  been 

c  2 


xxii  PREFACE. 

solved  by  the  heroic  self-sacrifice  of  Franklin, 
Crozier,  Fitzjames,  and  their  associates,  the 
searches  after  them  which  are  now  terminated, 
have,  at  a  very  small  loss  of  life,  not  only  added 
prodigiously  to  geographical  knowledge,  but 
have,  in  times  of  peace,  been  the  best  school  for 
testing,  by  the  severest  trials,  the  skill  and 
endurance  of  many  a  Jbrave  seaman.  In  her 
hour  of  need  —  should  need  arise  —  England 
knows  that  such  men  will  nobly  do  their  duty. 

KODERICK  I.  MURCHISON. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEE  I. 

Cause  of  delay  in  equipment  —  Fittings  of  the  c  Fox '  —  Volunteers 
for  Arctic  service  —  Assistance  from  public  departments  — 
Reflections  upon  the  undertaking  —  Instructions  and  departure 
—  Orkneys  and  Greenland  —  Fine  Arctic  scenery  —  Danish 
establishments  in  Greenland  —  Frederickshaab,  in  Davis' 
Straits ..       Page  1 

CHAPTEE  II. 

Fiskernaes  and  Esquimaux  —  The  '  Fox '  reaches  Disco  —  Disco 
Fiord  —  Summer  scenery  —  TVaigat  Strait  —  Coaling  from  the 
mine  —  Purchasing  Esquimaux  dogs  —  Heavy  gale  off  Uper- 
nivik  —  Melville  Bay  — « The  middle  ice  —  The  great  glacier 
of  Greenland  —  Reindeer  cross  the  glacier         21 

CHAPTEE  III. 

Melville  Bay  —  Beset  in  Melville  Bay  —  Signs  of  winter  — ■  The 
coming  storm  —  Drifting  in  the  pack  —  Canine  appetite  — 
Resigned  to  a  winter  in  the  pack  —  Dinner  stolen  by  sharks  — 
The  Arctic  shark — White  whales  and  killers 38 

CHAPTEE  IV. 

Snow  crystals — Dog  will  not  eat  raven  —  An  Arctic  school  —  The 
dogs  invade  us  —  Bear-hunting  by  night  —  Ice-artillery — Arctic 
palates  —  Sudden  rise  of  temperature  —  Harvey's  idea  of  a 
sortie      56 

CHAPTEE  V. 

Burial  in  the  pack  —  Musk  oxen  in  lat.  80°  north  —  Thrift  of  the 
Arctic  *fox  —  The  aurora  affects  the  electrometer  —  An  Arctic 
Christmas- — Sufferings  of  Dr.  Kane's  deserters — Ice  acted  on  by 
wind  only  —  How  the  sun  ought  to  be  welcomed  —  Constant 
action  of  the  ice  —  Return  of  the  seals  —  Revolving  storm       74 


xxiv  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A  bear-fight  —  An  ice-nip  —  Strong  gales,  rapid  drift  —  The  {  Fox ' 
breaks  out  of  the  pack  —  Hanging  on  to  floe-edge  —  The  Arctic 
bear  — ■  An  ice  tournament  —  The  *  Fox '  in  peril  —  A  storm  in 
the  pack  —  Escape  from  the  pack       Page  93 


CHAPTER  VII. 

A  holiday  in  Greenland  —  A  lady  blue  with  cold  —  The  loves  of 
Greenlanders  —  Close  shaving  —  Meet  the  whalers  —  Informa- 
tion of  whalers  —  Disco  —  Danish  hospitality  —  Sail  from 
Disco  —  Kindness  of  the  whalers  —  Danish  establishments  in 
Greenland      .'.      .. ..      ..      ..      ..      ..     Ill 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

*  Fox '  nearly  wrecked  —  Afloat,  and  push  ahead  —  Arctic  hair- 
breadth escapes — Nearly  caught  in  the  pack  —  Shooting  little 
auks  —  The  Arctic  Highlanders  —  Cape  York  — Crimson  snow 
—  Struggling  to  the  westward  —  Reach  the  West-land  —  Off  the 
entrance  of  Lancaster  Sound        128 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Off  Cape  Warrender  —  Sight  the  whalers  again  —  Enter  Pond's 
Bay  —  Communicate  with  Esquimaux  —  Ascend  Pond's  Inlet  — 
Esquimaux  information  —  Arctic  summer  abode  —  An  Arctic 
village  —  No  intelligence  of  Franklin's  ships  —  Arctic  trading  — 
Geographical  information  of  natives  —  Information  of  Piae's  visit 
—  Improvidence  of  Esquimaux  —  Travels  of  Esquimaux . .     146 


CHAPTER  X. 

Leave  Pond's  Bay  —  A  gale  in  Lancaster  Sound  —  The  Beechey 
Island  depot  —  An  Arctic  monument- — Reflections  at  Beechey 
Island  —  Proceed  up  Barrow's  Strait  —  Peel  Sound  —  Port  Leo- 
pold— 'Prince  Regent's  Inlet  —  Bellot  Strait  —  Flood-tide  from 
the  west  —  Unsuccessful  efforts — Fox's  Hole  —  No  water  to 
the  west  —  Precautionary  measures  —  Fourth  attempt  to  pass 
through 169 


PREFACE. 


The  following  narrative  of  the  bold  adventure 
which  has  successfully  revealed  the  last  dis- 
coveries and  the  fate  of  Franklin,  is  published 
at  the  request  of  the  friends  of  that  illustrious 
navigator.  The  gallant  M'Clintock,  when  he 
penned  his  journal  amid  the  Arctic  ices,  had 
no  idea  whatever  of  publishing  it ;  and  yet 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  reader  will 
peruse  with  the  deepest  interest  the  simple 
tale  of  how,  in  a  little  vessel  of  170  tons 
burthen,  he  and  his  well -chosen  companions 
have  cleared  up  this  great  mystery. 

To  the  honour  of  the  British  nation,  and  also 
let  it  be  said  to  that  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  many  have  been  the  efforts  made  to 
discover  the  route  followed  by  our  missing 
explorers.  The  highly  deserving  men  who 
have  so  zealously  searched  the  Arctic  seas  and 
lands  in  this  cause  must  now  rejoice,  that  after 
all  their  anxious  toils,  the  merit  of  rescuing 
from  the  frozen  North  the  record  of  the  last 


viii  PREFACE. 

days  of  Franklin,  lias  fallen  to  the  share  of 
his  noble-minded  widow. 

Lady  Franklin  has,  indeed,  well  shown  what 
a  devoted  and  true-hearted  Englishwoman  can 
accomplish.  The  moment  that  relics  of  the 
expedition  commanded  by  her  husband  were 
brought  home  (in  1854)  by  Eae,  and  that  she 
heard  of  the  account  given  to  him  by  the  Esqui- 
maux of  a  large  party  of  Englishmen  having  been 
seen  struggling  with  difficulties  on  the  ice  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Back  or  Great  Fish  River, 
she  resolved  to  expend  all  her  available  means 
(already  much  exhausted  in  four  other  inde- 
pendent expeditions)  in  an  exploration  of  the 
limited  area  to  which  the  search  must  thence- 
forward be  necessarily  restricted. 

Whilst  the  supporters  of  Lady  Franklin's 
efforts  were  of  opinion,  that  the  Government 
ought  to  have  undertaken  a  search,  the  extent 
of  which  was,  for  the  first  time,  definitely 
limited,  it  is  but  rendering  justice  to  the  then 
Prime  Minister*  to  state,  that  he  had  every 
desire  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  the  men  of 
science!  who  appealed  to  him,  and  that  he  was 


*  Viscount  Palmerston. 

t  See  the  Memorial  (Appendix)  addressed  to  the  First  Lord  of 
the  Treasury,  headed  by  Admiral  Sir  F.  Beaufort,  General  Sabine, 
and  many  other  men  of  science,  and  which,  as  President  of  the  Royal 


PREFACE.  ix 

precluded  from  acceding  to  their  petition,  by 
nothing  but  the  strongly  expressed  opinion  of 
official  authorities,  that  after  so  many  failures 
the  Government  were  no  longer  justified  in 
sending  out  more  brave  men  to  encounter  fresh 
dangers'  in  a  cause  which  was  viewed  as  hope- 
less. Hence  it  devolved  on  Lady  Franklin  and 
her  friends  to  be  the  sole  means  of  endeavour- 
ing to  bring  to  light  the  true  history  of  her 
husband's  voyage  and  fate. 

Looking  to  the  list  of  Naval  worthies  who 
during  the  preceding  years  had  been  exploring 
the  Arctic  Regions,  Lady  Franklin  was  highly 
gratified  when  she  obtained  the  willing  services 
of  Captain  M'Clintock  to  command  the  yacht 
'  Fox,'  which  she  had  purchased ;  for  that 
officer  had  signally  distinguished  himself  in  the 
voyages  of  Sir  James  Ross  and  Captain  (now 
Admiral)  Austin,  and  especially  in  his  ex- 
tensive journeys  on  the  ice  when  associated 
with  Captain  Kellett.  With  such  a  leader  she 
could  not  but  entertain  sanguine  hopes  of  suc- 
cess when  the  fast  and  well-adapted  little  vessel 


Geographical  Society,  I  presented  to  the  Prime  Minister  ;  and  also 
the  speech  of  Lord  Wrottesley,  the  President  of  the  Eoyal  Society, 
who,  in  the  absence  of  the  lamented  Earl  of  Ellesmere,  brought  the 
subject  earnestly  under  the  notice  of  the  House  of  Lords  on  the 
18th  of  July,  1856. 


x  PREFACE. 

sailed  from  Aberdeen  on  the  1st  of  July,  1857, 
upon  this  eventful  enterprise. 

Deep,  indeed,  was  the  mortification  experi- 
enced by  every  one  who  shared  the  feelings  and 
anticipations  of  Lady  Franklin  when  the  un- 
toward news  came,  in  the  summer  of  1858, 
that,  the  preceding  winter  having  set  in  earlier 
than  usual,  the  '  Fox '  had  been  beset  in  the  ice 
off  Melville  Bay,  on  the  coast  of  Greenland,  and 
after  a  dreary  winter,  various  narrow  escapes, 
and  eight  months  of  imprisonment,  had  been 
carried  back  by  the  floating  ice  nearly  twelve 
hundred  geographical  miles — even  to  63^°  N. 
lat.  in  the  Atlantic !  See  the  woodcut  map, 
No.  1. 

But  although  the  good  little  yacht  had  been 
most  roughly  handled  among  the  ice-floes  (see 
Frontispiece),  we  were  cheered  up  by  the  in- 
formation from  Disco,  that,  with  the  exception 
of  the  death  of  the  engine-driver  in  conse- 
quence of  a  fall  into  the  hold,  the  crew  were 
in  stout  health  and  full  of  energy,  and  that, 
provided  with  sufficient  fuel  and  provisions,  a 
good  supply  of  sledging  dogs,  two  tried  Esqui- 
maux, and  the  excellent  interpreter  Petersen 
the    Dane,*    ample    grounds   yet    remained   to 


*  Since  liis  return  to  Copenhagen,   Petersen  has  been  worthily 
honoured  by  his  Sovereign  with  the  silver  cross  of  Dannebrog. 


CONTENTS.  xxv 


CHAPTER  XL 

Proceed  westward  in  a  boat  —  Cheerless  state  of  the  western  sea 
—  Struggles  in  Bellot  Strait  —  Falcons  good  Arctic  fare  —  The 
resources  of  Boothia  Felix  —  Future  sledge  travelling  —  Heavy 
gales  —  Hobson's  party  start  —  Winter  quarters  —  Bellot's 
Strait  — r  Advanced  depot  established  —  Observatories  —  Intense 
cold  —  Autumn  travellers  —  Narrow  escape      ..      ..    Page  192 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Death  of  our  engineer  —  Scarcity  of  game  —  The  cold  unusually 
trying  —  Jolly,  under  adverse  circumstances  —  Petersen's  infor- 
mation —  Eeturn  of  the  sun  of  1859  —  Early  spring  sledge- 
parties  —  Unusual  severity  of  the  winter  —  Severe  hardships  of 
early  sledging  — ■  The  western  shores  of  Boothia  —  Meet  the 
Esquimaux  —  Intelligence  of  Franklin's  ships  —  Eeturn  to  the 
'Fox'  —  Allen  Young  returns     ..      ..      ..      *. 212 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Dr.  Walker's  sledge  journey  —  Snow-blindness  attacks  Young's 
party  —  Departure  of  all  sledge-parties  —  Equipment  of  sledge- 
parties  —  Meet  the  same  party  of  natives  —  Intelligence  of  the 
second  ship  —  My  depot  robbed  —  Part  company  from  Hobson 
—  Matty  Island  —  Deserted  snow-huts  —  Native  sledges  — Land 
on  King  William's  Land      ..      ..     240 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Meet  Esquimaux  —  News  of  Franklin's  people  —  Frighten  a  solitary 
party  —  Peach  the  Great  Fish  Eivef  — 'On  Montreal  Island  — 
Total  absence  of  all  relics  —  Examine  Ogle  Peninsula —  Dis- 
cover a  skeleton — Vagueness  of  Esquimaux  information  —  Cape 
Herschel  —  Cairn ..      ..     260 


CHAPTER  XV. 

The  cairn  found  empty  —  Discover  Hobson's  letter  —  Discovery  of 
Crozier's  record — The  deserted  boat  —  Articles  discovered  about 
the  boat  —  The  skeletons  and  relics  —  The  boat  belonged  to  the 
'Erebus'  —  Conjectures       ..     280 


xxvi  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEE  XYI. 

Errors  in  Franklin's  records  —  Relics  found  at  the  cairn  —  Reflec- 
tions on  the  retreat  —  Returning  homeward  —  Geological 
remarks  —  Difficulties  of  summer  sledging  —  Arrive  on  hoard 
the  'Fox'  —  Navigable  N.W.  passage  —  Death  from  scurvy  — 
Anxiety  for  Captain  Young  —  Young  returns  safely  ..  Page  301 


CHAPTEE  XVII. 

Signs  of  release  —  Dearth  of  animal  life  —  Owl  is  good  beef  — 
Beat  out  of  winter  quarters  —  Our  game-list  —  Reach  Fury 
Beach — Escape  from  Regent's  Inlet — In  Baffin's  Bay — Captain 
Allen  Young's  journey  —  Disco  ;  sad  disappointment  —  Part 
from  our  Esquimaux  friends  —  Adieu  to  Greenland  —  Arrive 
home      323 

Conclusion.,      .r 348 


APPENDIX. 

No.  I. — A  Letter  to  Yiscount  Palmerston,  K.G.,  &c,3  from  Lady 
Franklin        352 

No.  II. — Memorial  to  the  Right  Hon.  Yiscount  Palmerston,  M.P., 
G.C.B 361 

No.  III. — List  of  Relics   of  the  Franklin  Expedition  brought  to 
England  in  the  '  Fox '  by  Captain  M'Clintock 366 

No.  IY. — Geological  Account  of  the  Arctic  Archipelago,  by  Professor 
Haughton       372 

No.  Y. — List  of  Subscribers  to  the  '  Fox '  Expedition     « .      . .     400 


To  face  page  x 


(     xxvii     ) 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


The  'Fox'  steaming  out  of  the  Bolling  Pack.     Drawn 

by  Captain  May Frontispiece. 

Sketch  Map  qf  the  Drift  of  the  '  Fox  *  down  Baffin's 
Bay  lx  the  floating  Ice        

Sketch  Map  of  Arctic  Eegioxs  at  the  time  of  Franklin's 
last  Expedition       ■ 

Moonlight  ix  the  Arctic  Eegioxs.     Drawn  by   Captain 

May —  71 

A  Funeral  ox  the  Ice — the  effect  of  Paeaselexa  (Mock 

Mooxs).     Ditto —  74 

The   Greenlander's   Supper   appropriated    by  a   Bear. 

Ditto —  103 

The  'Fox'  ox  a  rock  xear  Buchax  Islaxd.     Ditto     ..  —         128 

Esquimaux  imitating  animals  to  induce  Europeaxs  to 

approach.     From  a  Sketch  by  Captain  Allen  Young    . .  —  135 

The  Village    axd   Glacier    of  Kaparoktolik.      Brawn 

by  Captain  May         .. —  156 

The  'Fox'  arritixg  at  Beechet  Islaxd.     Ditto..        ..  —         171 

M'Cllntock  ix  his  Boat  sailing  through  Bellot  Strait. 

Ditto —         192 

A  Dog  Sledge  or  Scout  Party —         201 

Interior  of  the  Observatory.    Ditto       —         206 

Walruses  —  a  Family  Party.     From  a  Sketch  ly  Captain 

Allen  Young       —  220 

M'Cllntock's  Trayellixg  Party  discovering  the  remaixs 

of  Cairn  at  Cape  Herschel.    Drawn  by  Captain  May         —         277 

Facsimile  of  the   Eecoed  found  of  Franklin's  Expe- 

ditiox —         283 

Isolated  Iceberg.     Dra/wn  by  P.  Shelton,  from  a  Sketch 

by  Captain  Allen  Young —  309 

Geological  Map  of  the  Aectic  Eegioxs —         372 

Cape  Bunny,  Peel  Sound     page  377 

Map  of  the  Arctic  Eegioxs,  showing  the  Discoveries  of 

Captaix  M'Cllntock,  by  John  Arroytsmith,  F.E.G.S.  at  the  end. 

d 


JOUENAL  OF  THE  SEAECH 


SIR    JOHN    FRANKLIN, 


CHAPTEE  I. 


Cause  of  delay  in  equipment  —  Fittings  of  the  '  Fox  '  —  Volunteers 
for  Arctic  service  —  Assistance  from  public  departments  — 
Reflections  upon  the  undertaking  —  Instructions  and  departure 
—  Orkneys  and  Greenland  —  Fine  Arctic  scenery  —  Danish 
establishments  in  Greenland  —  Frederickshaab,  in  Davis'  Straits. 

It  is  now  a  matter  of  history  how  Govern- 
ment and  private  expeditions  prosecuted  with 
unprecedented  zeal  and  perseverance  the  search 
for  Sir  John  Franklin's  ships,  between  the 
years  1847-55  ;  and  that  the  only  ray  of 
information  gleaned  was  that  afforded  by  the 
inscriptions  upon  three  tombstones  at  Beechey 
Island,  briefly  recording  the  names  and  dates 
of  the  deaths  of  those  individuals  of  the  lost 
expedition,  who  thus  early  fell  in  the  cause  of 
science  and  of  their  country. 

In  this  manner  were  we  made  aware  of  the 


2  FORMER  EXPEDITIONS.  Chap.  I. 

locality  where  the  Franklin  expedition  passed 
its  first  arctic  winter.  The  traces  assuring  us 
of  that  fact  were  discovered  in  August,  1850, 
by  Captain  Ommanney,  R.N.,  of  H.M.S.  <  As- 
sistance,' and  by  Captain  Penny  of  the  '  Lady 
Franklin.' 

In  October,  1854,  Dr.  Kae  brought  home  the 
only  additional  information  respecting  them 
which  has  ever  reached  us.  From  the  Esqui- 
maux of  Boothia  Felix  he  learned  that  a  party 
of  about  forty  white  men  were  met  on  the  west 
coast  of  King  William's  Island,  and  from  thence 
travelled  on  to  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Fish 
River,  where  they  all  perished  of  starvation, 
and  that  this  tragic  event  occurred  apparently 
in  the  spring  of  1850. 

Some  relics  obtained  from  these  natives,  and 
brought  home  by  Dr.  Rae,  were  proved  to 
have  belonged  to  Sir  John  Franklin  and  several 
of  his  associates. 

The  Government  caused  an  exploring  party 
to  descend  the  Fish  River  in  1855 ;  but, 
although  sufficient  traces  were  found  to  prove 
that  some  portion  of  the  crews  of  the  -  Erebus ' 
and  '  Terror '  had  actually  landed  on  the  banks 
of  that  river,  and  traces  existed  of  them  up  to 
Franklin  Rapids,  no  additional  information  was 
obtained  either  from  the  discovery  of  records, 


Apr.  1857.     CAUSE  OF  DELAY  IN  EQUIPMENT.  3 

or  through  the  Esquimaux.  Mr.  Anderson,  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company's  officer  in  charge,  and 
his  small  party,  deserve  credit  for  their  perse- 
verance and  skill ;  but  they  were  not  furnished 
with  the  necessary  means  of  accomplishing  their 
mission.  Mr.  Anderson  could  not  obtain  an 
interpreter,  and  the  two  frail  bark  canoes  in 
which  his  whole  party  embarked  were  almost 
worn  out  before  they  reached  the  locality  to  be 
searched.  It  is  not  surprising  that  such  an  ex- 
pedition caused  very  considerable  disappoint- 
ment at  home. 

Lady  Franklin,  and  the  advocates  for  further 
search,  now  pressed  upon  Government  the  neces- 
sity of  following  up,  in  a  more  effectual  manner, 
the  traces  accidentally  found  by  Dr.  Eae,  and, 
in  fact,  of  rendering  the  search  complete  by 
one  more  effort,  involving  but  little  of  hazard  or 
expense.  It  was  not  until  April,  1857,  that  any 
decisive  answer  was  given  to  Lady  Franklin's 
appeal.     (See  Appendix  No.  1.) 

Sir  Charles  Wood  then  stated  "  that  the 
members  of  Her  Majesty's  Government,  having 
come,  with  great  regret,  to  the  conclusion  that 
there  was  no  prospect  of  saving  life,  would  not 
be  justified,  for  any  objects  which  in  their 
opinion  could  be  obtained  by  an  expedition 
to   the  Arctic   seas,  in   exposing   the   lives   of 

b  2 


4  NOMINATION  OF  COMMANDER.       -   Chap.  I. 

officers  and  men  to  the  risk  inseparable  from 
such  an  enterprise." 

Lady  Franklin,  upon  this  final  disappoint- 
ment of  her  hopes,  had  no  hesitation  in  im- 
mediately preparing  to  send  out  a  searching 
expedition,  equipped  and  stored  at  her  own 
cost.  But  she  was  not  left  alone.  Many 
friends  of  the  cause — including  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  scientific  men  i  in  England, 
and  especially  Sir  Roderick  Murchison,  whose 
zeal  was  as  practical  as  it  was  enlightened — 
hastened  to  tender  their  aid,  and  soon  a  very 
considerable  sum  was  raised  in  furtherance  of 
so  truly  noble  an  effort. 

On  the  18th  April,  1857,  Lady  Franklin  did 
me  the  honour  to  offer  me  the  command  of  the 
proposed  expedition, — it  was  of  course  most 
cheerfully  accepted.  As  a  post  of  honour  and 
of  some  difficulty  it  possessed  quite  sufficient 
charms  for  a  naval  officer  who  had  already 
served  in  three  consecutive  expeditions  from 
1848  to  1854.  I  was  thoroughly  conversant 
with  all  the  details  of  this  peculiar  service ;  and 
I  confess,  moreover,  that  my  whole  heart  was 
in  the  cause.  How  could  I  do  otherwise  than 
devote  myself  to  save  at  least  the  record  of 
faithful  service,  even  unto  death,  of  my  brother 
officers  and  seamen  ?    and,  being  one  of  those 


Apr.  1857.  PURCHASE  OF  THE  <  FOX.'  5 

by  whose  united  efforts  not  only  the  Franklin 
search,  but  the  geography  of  Arctic  America, 
has  been  brought  so  nearly  to  completion,  I 
could  not  willingly  resign  to  posterity,  the 
honour  of  filling  up  even  the  small  remaining 
blank  upon  our  maps. 

To  leave  these  discoveries  incomplete,  more 
especially  in  a  quarter  through  which  the  tidal 
stream  actually  demonstrates  the  existence  of  a 
channel — the  only  remaining  hope  of  a  prac- 
ticable north-west  passage  —  would  indeed  be 
leaving  strong  inducement  for  future  explorers 
to  reap  the  rich  reward  of  our  long-continued 
exertions. 

I  immediately  applied  to  the  Admiralty  for 
leave  of  absence  to  complete  the  Franklin  search  ; 
and  on  the  23rd  received  at  Dublin  the  tele- 
graphic message  from  Lady  Franklin  :  "  Your 
leave  is  granted ;  the  '  Fox  '  is  mine  ;  the  refit 
will  commence  immediately."  She  had  already 
purchased  the  screw-yacht  f  Fox/  of  177  tons 
burthen,  and  now  placed  her,  together  with  the 
necessary  funds,  at  my  disposal. 

Let  me  explain  what  is  here  implied  by  the 
simple  word  refit.  The  velvet  hangings  and 
splendid  furniture  of  the  yacht,  and  also  every- 
thing not  constituting  a  part  of  the  vessel's 
strengthening,  were  to  be  removed ;  the  large 


G  FITTINGS  OF  THE  « FOX.'  Chap.  I. 

skylights  and  capacious  ladderways  had  to  be 
reduced  to  limits  more  adapted  to  a  polar  clime ; 
the  whole  vessel  to  be  externally  sheathed  with 
stout  planking,  and  internally  fortified  by  strong- 
cross  beams,  longitudinal  beams,  iron  stanchions, 
and  diagonal  fastenings  ;  the  false  keel  taken  off, 
the  slender  brass  propeller  replaced  by  a  massive 
iron  one,  the  boiler  taken  out,  altered,  and 
enlarged ;  the  sharp  stem  to  be  cased  in  iron 
until  it  resembled  a  ponderous  chisel  set  up 
edgeways ;  even  the  yacht's  rig  had  to  be 
altered. 

She  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  her  builders, 
Messrs.  Hall  and  Co.,  of  Aberdeen,  who  dis- 
played even  more  than  their  usual  activity  in 
effecting  these  necessary  alterations,  for  it  was 
determined  that  the  '  Fox '  should  sail  by  the 
1st  July. 

Internally  she  was  fitted  up  with  the  strictest 
economy  in  every  sense,  and  the  officers  were 
crammed  into  pigeon-holes,  styled  cabins,  in 
order  to  make  room  for  provisions  and  stores  ; 
our  mess-room,  for  five  persons,  measured  8  feet 
square.  The  ordinary  heating  apparatus  for 
winter  use  was  dispensed  with,  and  its  place 
supplied  by  a  few  very  small  stoves.  The  '  Fox  ' 
had  been  the  property  of  the  late  Sir  Richard 
Sutton,  Bart.,  who  made  but  one  trip  to  Nor- 


Ape.  1857.    VOLUNTEERS  FOR  ARCTIC  SERVICE.  7 

way  in  her,  and  she  was  purchased  by  Lady 
Franklin  from  his  executors  for  20001. 

Having  thus  far  commenced  the  refit  of  the 
vessel,  I  turned  my  attention  to  the  selection 
of  a  crew  and  to  the  requisite  clothing  and 
provisions  for  our  voyage. 

Many  worthy  old  shipmates,  my  companions 
in  the  previous  Arctic  voyages,  most  readily 
volunteered  their  services,  and  they  were  as 
cheerfully  accepted,  for  it  was  my  anxious  wish 
to  gather  around  me  well-tried  men,  who  were 
aware  of  the  duties  expected  of  them,  and  accus- 
tomed to  naval  discipline.  Hence,  out  of  the 
twenty-five  souls  composing  our  small  company, 
seventeen  had  previously  served  in  the  Arctic 
search. 

Expeditions  of  this  nature  are  always  popular 
with  seamen,  and  innumerable  were  the  appli- 
cations sent  to  me  ;  but  still  more  abundant  were 
the  offers  to  "  serve  in  any  capacity "  which 
poured  in  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  from 
people  of  all  classes,  many  of  whom  had  never 
seen  the  sea.  It  was,  of  course,  impossible  to 
accede  to  any  of  these  latter  proposals,  yet,  for 
my  own  part,  I  could  not  but  feel  gratified  at 
such  convincing  proofs  that  the  spirit  of  the 
country  was  favourable  to  us,  and  that  the  ardent 
love   of  hardy   enterprise    still   lives    amongst 


8  OFFICERS  OF  THE  EXPEDITION.         Chap.  I. 

Englishmen,  as  of  old,  to  be  cherished,  I  trust,  as 
the  most  valuable  of  our  national  characteristics 
— as  that  which  has  so  largely  contributed  to 
make  England  what  she  is. 

My  second  in  command  was  Lieutenant  W.  R. 
Hobson,  R.N.,  an  officer  already  distinguished 
in  Arctic  service.  Captain  Allen  Young  joined 
me  as  sailing-master,  contributing  not  only  his 
valuable  services  but  largely  of  his  private  funds 
to  the  expedition.  This  gentleman  had  pre- 
viously commanded  some  of  our  very  finest  mer- 
chant ships,  the  latest  being  the  steam-transport 
'Adelaide'  of  2500  tons:  he  had  but  recently 
returned,  in  ill-health,  from  the  Black  Sea, 
where  he  was  most  actively  employed  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  Crimean  campaign. 
Nothing  that  I  could  say  would  add  to  the 
merit  of  such  singularly  generous  and  disin- 
terested conduct.  David  Walker,  M.D.,  volun- 
teered for  the  post  of  surgeon  and  naturalist ; 
he  also  undertook  the  photographic  department ; 
and  just  before  sailing,  Carl  Petersen,  now  so 
well  known  to  Arctic  readers  as  the  Esquimaux 
interpreter  in  the  expeditions  of  Captain  Penny 
and  Dr.  Kane,  came  to  join  me  from  Copen- 
hagen, although  landed  there  from  Greenland 
only  six  days  previously,  after  an  absence  of  a 
year  from  his  family :  we  were  indebted  to  Sir    0 


Apr.  1857.   ASSISTANCE  FROM  PUBLIC  DEPARTMENTS.  9 

Roderick  Murchison  and  the  electric  telegraph 
for  securing  his  valuable  services. 

Like  the  Paris  omnibuses  we  were  at  length 
tout  complete  and  quite  as  anxious  to  make  a 
start. 

Ample   provisions   for   twenty-eight   months 
were  embarked,  including  preserved  vegetables, 
lemon-juice,  and  pickles,  for  daily  consumption, 
and  preserved  meats  for  every  third  day  :  also 
as  much  of  Messrs.  Allsopp's  stoutest  ale  as  we 
could  find  room  for.    The  Government,  although 
declining  to  send  out  an  expedition,  yet  now  con- 
tributed liberally  to  our  supplies.    All  our  arms, 
powder,  shot,  powder  for  ice-blasting,  rockets, 
maroons,  and  signal-mortar,  were  furnished  by 
the  Board  of  Ordnance.    The  Admiralty  caused 
6682  lbs.  of  pemmican  to  be  prepared  for  our 
use.    Not  less  than  85,000  lbs.  of  this  invaluable 
food  have  been  prepared  since  1845  at  the  Royal 
Clarence  Victualling  Yard,  Gosport,  for  the  use 
of  the  Arctic  Expeditions.     It  is  composed  of 
prime  beef  cut  into  thin  slices  and  dried  over 
a  wood  fire  ;  then  pounded  up  and  mixed  with 
about  an  equal  weight  of  melted  beef  fat.     The 
pemmican  is  then  pressed  into  cases  capable  of 
containing  42  lbs.   each.      The  Admiralty  sup- 
plied us   also  with  all   the   requisite   ice-gear, 
such  as  saws  from  ten  to  eighteen  feet  in  length, 


10  DONATION  FROM  ROYAL  SOCIETY.       Chap.  I. 

ice-anchors,  and  ice-claws  :  also  with  our  winter 
housing,  medicines,  pure  lemon-juice,  seamen's 
library,  hydrographical  instruments,  charts, 
chronometers,  and  an  ample  supply  of  arctic 
clothing  which  had  remained  in  store  from 
former  expeditions.  The  Board  of  Trade  con- 
tributed a  variety  of  meteorological  and  nautical 
instruments  and  journals ;  and  I  found  that  I 
had  but  to  ask  of  these  departments  for  what 
was  required,  and  if  in  store  it  was  at  once 
granted.  I  asked,  however,  only  for  such  things 
as  were  indispensably  necessary. 

The  President  and  Council  of  the  Eoyal 
Society  voted  the  sum  of  50/.  from  their 
donation  fund  for  the  purchase  of  magnetic 
and  other  scientific  instruments,  in  order  that 
our  anticipated  approach  to  so  interesting  a 
locality  as  the  Magnetic  Pole  might  not  be 
altogether  barren  of  results. 

Being  desirous  to  retain  for  my  vessel  the 
privileges  she  formerly  enjoyed  as  a  yacht,  my 
wishes  were  very  promptly  gratified ;  in  the 
first  instance  by  the  Eoyal  Harwich  Yacht 
Club,  of  which  my  officers  and  myself  were 
enrolled  as  members — the  Commodore,  A.  Ar- 
cedeckne,  Esq.,  presenting  my  vessel  with  the 
handsome  ensign  and  burgee  of  the  Club ;  and 
shortly    afterwards    by    my    being    elected    a 


Ape.  1857.  REFLECTIONS  UPON  THE  UNDERTAKING.  11 

member  of  the  Koyal  Victoria  Yacht  Club  for 
the  period  of  my  voyage.  Lastly,  upon  the  very 
day  of  sailing,  I  was  proposed  for  the  Eoyal 
Yacht  Squadron,  to  which  the  yacht  had  pre- 
viously belonged  when  the  property  of  Sir 
Eichard  Sutton. 

Throughout  the  whole  period  required  for 
our  equipment  I  constantly  experienced  the 
heartiest  co-operation  and  earnest  goodwill  from 
all  with  whom  my  varied  duties  brought  me  in 
contact.  Deep  sympathy  with  Lady  Franklin 
in  her  distress,  her  self-devotion  and  sacrifice 
of  fortune,  and  an  earnest  desire  to  extend  suc- 
cour to  any  chance  survivors  of  the  ill-fated 
expedition  who  might  still  exist,  or,  at  least, 
to  ascertain  their  fate,  and  rescue  from  oblivion 
their  heroic  deeds,  seemed  the  natural  prompt- 
ings of  every  honest  English  heart.  It  is  need- 
less to  add  that  this  experience  of  public  opinion 
confirmed  my  own  impression  that  the  glorious 
mission  intrusted  to  me  was  in  reality  a  great 
national  duty.  I  could  not  but  feel  that,  if  the 
gigantic  and  admirably  equipped  national  ex- 
peditions sent  out  upon  precisely  the  same  duty, 
and  reflecting  so  much  credit  upon  the  Board 
of  Admiralty,  were  ranked  amongst  the  noblest 
efforts  in  the  cause  of  humanity  any  nation 
ever  engaged  in,  and  that,  if  high  honour  was 


12  LADY  FRANKLIN'S  VISIT.  Chap.  I. 

awarded  to  all  composing  those  splendid  expe- 
ditions, surely  the  effort  became  still  more  re- 
markable and  worthy  of  approbation  when  its 
means  were  limited  to  one  little  vessel,  con- 
taining but  twenty-five  souls,  equipped  and  pro- 
visioned (although  efficiently,  yet)  in  a  manner 
more  according  with  the  limited  resources  of  a 
private  individual  than  with  those  of  the  public 
purse.  The  less  the  means,  the  more  arduous 
I  felt  was  the  achievement.  The  greater  the 
risk — for  the  'Fox'  was  to  be  launched  alone 
into  those  turbulent  seas  from  which  every 
other  vessel  had  long  since  been  withdrawn — 
the  more  glorious  would  be  the  success,  the 
more  honourable  even  the  defeat,  if  again  defeat 
awaited  us. 

Upon  the  last  day  of  June  Lady  Franklin, 
accompanied  by  her  niece  Miss  Sophia  Cracroft, 
and  Capt.  Maguire,  R.N.,  came  on  board  to  bid 
us  farewell,  for  we  purposed  sailing  in  the  even- 
ing. Seeing  how  deeply  agitated  she  was  on 
leaving  the  ship,  I  endeavoured  to  repress  the 
enthusiasm  of  my  crew,  but  without'  avail ;  it 
found  vent  in  three  prolonged  hearty  cheers. 
The  strong  feeling  which  prompted  them  was 
truly  sincere;  and  this  unbidden  exhibition  of 
it  can  hardly  have  gratified  her  for  whom  it 
was  intended  more  than  it  did  myself. 


June,  1857.     LADY  FRANKLIN'S  INSTRUCTIONS.  13 

I  must  here  insert  the  only  written  instruc- 
tions I  could  prevail  upon  Lady  Franklin  to 
give  me ;  they  were  not  read  until  the  '  Fox ' 
was  fairly  in  the  Atlantic. 

Aberdeen,  June  29,  1857. 

My  dear  Captain  M'Clintock, 

You  have  kindly  invited  me  to  give  you  "  In- 
structions," but  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  feel  that  it 
would  be  right  in  me  in  any  way  to  influence  your 
judgment  in  the  conduct  of  your  noble  undertaking ; 
and  indeed  I  have  no  temptation  to  do  so,  since  it 
appears  to  me  that  your  views  are  almost  identical  with 
those  which  I  had  independently  formed  before  I  had 
the  advantage  of  being  thoroughly  possessed  of  yours. 
But  had  this  been  otherwise,  I  trust  you  would  have 
found  me  ready  to  prove  the  implicit  confidence  I 
place  in  you  by  yielding  my  own  views  to  your  more 
enlightened  judgment ;  knowing  too  as  I  do  that  your 
whole  heart  also  is  in  the  cause,  even  as  my  own  is. 
As  to  the  objects  of  the  expedition  and  their  relative 
importance,  I  am  sure  you  know  that  the  rescue  of  any 
possible  survivor  of  the  '  Erebus '  and  '  Terror '  would 
be  to  me,  as  it  would  be  to  you,  the  noblest  result  of 
our  efforts. 

To  this  object  I  wish  every  other  to  be  subordinate ; 
and  next  to  it  in  importance  is  the  recovery  of  the 
unspeakably  precious  documents  of  the  expedition, 
public  and  private,  and  the  personal  relics  of  my  dear 
husband  and  his  companions. 

And  lastly,  I  trust  it  may  be  in  your  power  to  con- 
firm, directly  or  inferentially,  the  claims  of  my  hus- 
band's   expedition    to   the    earliest    discovery    of  the 


14  INSTRUCTIONS  AND  DEPARTURE.  Chap  I. 

passage,  which,  if  Dr.  Kae's  report  be  true  (and  the 
Government  of  onr  country  has  accepted  and  rewarded 
it  as  such),  these  martyrs  in  a  noble  cause  achieved  at 
their  last  extremity,  after  five  long  years  of  labour  and 
suffering,  if  not  at  an  earlier  period. 

I  am  sure  you  will  do  all  that  man  can  do  for  the 
attainment  of  all  these  objects;  my  only  fear  is  that 
you  may  spend  yourselves  too  much  in  the  effort ;  and 
you  must  therefore  let  me  tell  you  how  much  dearer 
to  me  even  than  any  of  them  is  the  preservation  of  the 
valuable  lives  of  the  little  band  of  heroes  who  are  your 
companions  and  followers. 

May  God  in  his  great  mercy  preserve  you  all  from 
harm  amidst  the  labours  and  perils  which  await  you, 
and  restore  you  to  us  in  health  and  safety  as  well  as 
honour!  As  to  the  honour  I  can  have  no  misgiving. 
It  will  be  yours  as  much  if  you  fail  (since  you  may  fail 
in  spite  of  every  effort)  as  if  you  succeed;  and  be 
assured  that,  under  any  and  all  circumstances  ivhatever, 
such  is  my  unbounded  confidence  in  you,  you  will  pos- 
sess "and  be  entitled  to  the  enduring  gratitude  of  your 
sincere  and  attached  friend, 

Jane  Feanklin. 

We  were  not  destined  to  get  to  sea  that 
evening.  The  '  Fox/  hitherto  during  her  brief 
career,  accustomed  only  to  the  restraint  im- 
posed upon  a  gilded  pet  in  summer  seas,  seemed 
to  have  got  an  inkling  that  her  duty  henceforth 
was  to  combat  with  difficulties,  and,  entering 
fully  into  the  spirit  of  the  cruize,  answered  her 
helm  so  much  more  readily  than  the  pilot  ex- 


July,  1857.      ORKNEYS  AND  GREENLAND.  15 

pected  that  she  ran  aground  upon  the  bar.  She 
was  promptly  shored  up,  and  remained  in  that 
position  until  next  morning,  when  she  floated 
off  unhurt  at  high  water,  and  commenced  her 
long  and  lonely  voyage. 

Scarcely  had  we  left  the  busy  world  behind 
us  when  we  were  actively  engaged  in  making 
arrangements  for  present  comfort  and  future 
exertion.  How  busy,  how  happy,  and  how  full 
of  hope  we  all  were  then  ! 

On  the  night  of  the  2nd  of  July  we  passed 
through  the  Pentland  Firth,  where  the  tide 
rushing  impetuously  against  a  strong  wind 
raised  up  a  tremendous  sea,  amid  which  the 
little  vessel  struggled  bravely  under  steam  and 
canvas.  The  bleak  wild  shores  of  Orkney,  the 
still  wilder  pilot's  crew,  and  their  hoarse  screams 
and  unintelligible  dialect,  the  shrill  cry  of  in- 
numerable sea-birds,  the  howling  breeze  and 
angry  sea,  made  us  feel  as  if  we  had  suddenly 
awoke  in  Greenland  itself.  The  southern  ex- 
tremity of  that  ice-locked  continent  became 
visible  on  the  12th.  It  is  quaintly  named  Cape 
Farewell;  but  whether  by  some  sanguine  out- 
ward-bound adventurer  who  fancied  that  in 
leaving  Greenland  behind  him  he  had  already 
secured  his  passage  to  Cathay ;  or  whether  by 
the  wearied  homesick  mariner,  feebly  escaping 


10  GKEENLAND.  Chap.  T. 

from  the  grasp  of  winter  in  bis  shattered  bark, 
and  firmly  purposing  to  bid  a  long  farewell  to 
this  cheerless  land,  history  altogether  fails  to 
enlighten  us. 

From  January  until  July  this  coast  is  usually 
rendered  unapproachable  by  a  broad  margin  of 
heavy  ice,  which  drifts  there  from  the  vicinity 
of  Spitzbergen,  and,  lapping  round  the  Cape, 
extends  alongshore  to  the  northward  about  as 
far  as  Baal's  River,  a  distance  of  250  miles. 
Although  it  effectually  blockades  the  ports  of 
South  Greenland  for  the  greater  part  of  the 
summer,  and  is  justly  dreaded  by  the  captains 
of  the  Greenland  traders,  it  confers  important 
benefits  upon  the  Greenlander  by  bearing  to 
his  shores  immense  numbers  of  seals  and  many 
bears.  The  same  current  which  conveys  hither 
all  this  ice  is  also  freighted  with  a  scarcely  less 
valuable  supply  of  driftwood  from  the  Siberian 
rivers. 

About  this  time,  one  of  my  crew  showing 
symptoms  of  diseased  lungs,  I  determined  to 
embrace  the  earliest  opportunity  of  sending  him 
home  out  of  a  climate  so  fatal  to  those  who  are 
thus  affected  ;  and  having  learnt  from  Mr.  Peter- 
sen, who  had  quitted  Greenland  only  in  April 
last,  that  a  vessel  would  very  soon  leave  Frede- 
rickshaab  for  Copenhagen,  I  resolved  to  go  to 


July,  1857.  SPITSBERGEN  ICE.  17 

that  place  in  order  to  catch  this  homeward- 
bound  ship. 

It  was  necessary  to  push  through  the  Spitz- 
bergen  ice,  and  we  fortunately  succeeded  in 
doing  so  after  eighteen  hours  of  buffeting  with 
this  formidable  enemy  ;  at  first  we  found  it 
tolerably  loose,  and  the  wind  being  strong 
and  favourable,  we  thumped  along  pleasantly 
enough ;  but  as  we  advanced,  the  ice  became 
much  more  closely  packed,  a  thick  fog  came  on, 
and  many  hard  knocks  were  exchanged ;  at 
length  our  steam  carried  us  through  into  the 
broad  belt  of  clear  water  between  the  ice  and 
land,  which  Petersen  assured  me  always  exists 
here  at  this  season. 

The  dense  fog  now  prevented  further  pro- 
gress, and  as  evening  closed  in  I  gave  up  all 
hope  of  improvement  for  the  night,  when  sud- 
denly the  fog  rolled  back  upon  the  land,  disclos- 
ing some  islets  close  to  us,  then  the  rugged 
points  of  mainland,  and  at  length,  lifting  alto- 
gether, the  distant  snowy  mountain  -  peaks 
against  a  deep  blue  sky. 

The  evening  became  bright  and  delightful; 
the  whole  extent  of  coast  was  fringed  with  in- 
numerable islets,  backed  by  lofty  mountains,  and, 
being  richly  tinted  by  a  glorious  western  sun, 
formed  an  unusually  splendid  sight.     Greenland 


18  FINE  ARCTIC  SCENERY.  Chap.  I. 

unveiled  to  our  anxious  gaze  that  memorable 
evening,  all  the  magnificence  of  her  natural 
beauty.  Was  it  to  welcome  us  that  she  thus 
cast  off  her  dingy  outer  mantle  and  shone  forth 
radiant  with  smiles  ? — such  winning  smiles ! 

A  faint  streak  of  mist,  which  we  could  not 
account  for,  appeared  to  float  across  a  low  wide 
interval  in  the  mountain  range ;  the  telescope 
revealed  its  true  character, — it  was  a  portion  of 
the  distant  glacier.  We  found  ourselves  upon 
the  Tallard  Bank,  30  miles  north  of  our  port, 
having  been  rapidly  carried  northwards  by  the 
Spitsbergen  current. 

July  20th. — This  morning  the  chief  trader  of 
the  settlement,  or,  as  he  is  more  usually  styled 
by  the  English,  the  Governor,  came  off  to  us, 
and  his  pilot  soon  conducted  us  into  the  safe 
little  ^harbour  of  Frederickshaab.  I  was  much 
gratified  to  learn  that  we  were  just  in  time  to 
secure  a  passage  home  for  our  ailing  shipmate. 

For  trading  purposes  Greenland  is  monopo- 
lized by  the  Danish  Government ;  its  Esquimaux 
and  mixed  population  amount  to  about  7000 
souls.  About  1000  Danes  reside  constantly 
there  for  the  purpose  of  conducting  the  trade, 
which  consists  almost  exclusively  in  the  ex- 
change of  European  goods  for  oil  and  the  skins 
of  soals,  reindeer,  and  a  few  other  animals. 


July,  1857.   DANISH  ESTABLISHMENTS,  GREENLAND.    19 

The  Esquimaux  are  not  subject  to  Danish 
laws,  but  although  proud  of  their  nominal  inde- 
pendence they  are  sincerely  attached  to  the 
Danes,  and  with  abundant  reason ;  a  Lutheran 
clergyman,  a  doctor,  and  a  schoolmaster,  whose 
duty  it  is  to  give  gratuitous  instruction  and  relief, 
are  paid  by  the  Government,  and  attached  to  each 
district ;  and  when  these  improvident  people  are 
in  distress,  which  not  unfrequently  happens 
during  the  long  winters,  provisions  are  issued 
to  them  free  of  cost ;  spirits  are  strictly  pro- 
hibited. All  of  them  have  become  Christians, 
and  many  can  read  and  write. 

Have  we  English  done  more,  or  as  much,  for 
the  aborigines  in  any  of  our  numerous  colonies, 
and  especially  for  the  Esquimaux  within  our 
own  territories  of  Labrador  and  Hudson's  Bay  ? 

Greenland  is  divided  into  two  inspectorates, 
the  northern  and  southern ;  the  inspector  of  the 
latter  division,  Dr.  Rink,  had  arrived  at  Frede- 
rickshaab  upon  his  summer  round  of  visits  only 
the  day  previous  to  ourselves.  He  came  on 
board  to  call  upon  me,  and  after  Divine  Service 
I  landed,  and  enjoyed  a  ramble  with  him  over 
the  moss-clad  hills.  Our  first  meeting  was  in 
North  Greenland  in  1848  ;  we  had  not  seen 
one  another  since,  so  we  had  much  to  talk 
about.     Dr.  Rink  is   a  gentleman  of  acknow- 

c  2 


20  FBEDEKICKSHAAB,  DAVIS'  STRAITS.      Chap.  I. 

ledged  talent,  a  distinguished  traveller,  and  is 
thoroughly  conversant  with  the  sciences  of 
geology  and  botany. 

Unfortunately  for  me  his  excellent  work  on 
Greenland  has  not  been  translated  into  English. 
We  were  kindly  permitted  to  purchase  eight  tons 
of  coals,  and  such  small  things  as  were  required  ; 
the  only  fresh  supplies  to  be  obtained  besides 
codfish,  which  was  abundant,  consisted  of  a  very 
few  ptarmigan  and  hares,  and  a  couple  of  kids ; 
these  last  are  scarce.  Some  goats  exist,  but  for 
eight  months  out  of  the  year  they  are  shut  up 
in  a  house,  and  even  now — in  midsummer — are 
only  let  out  in  the  daytime.  We  also  purchased 
of  the  Esquimaux  some  specimens  of  Esquimaux 
workmanship,  such  as  models  of  the  native 
dresses,  kayaks,  &c,  also  birds'  skins  and  eggs. 
I  saw  fine  specimens  of  a  white  swan,  and  of  a 
bird  said  to  be  extremely  rare  in  Greenland, — it 
was  a  species  of  grebe,  Podiceps  cristatus,  I 
imagine.  Frederickshaab  is  just  now  well  sup- 
plied with  wood  :  besides  an  unseaworthy  brig, 
the  wreck  of  a  large  timber-ship  lay  on  the 
beach,  and  an  abandoned  timber-vessel,  which 
was  met  with  between  Iceland  and  Greenland 
in  July  by  Prince  Napoleon,  drifted  upon  the 
coast  30  miles  to  the  northward  in  the  following 
September. 


July,  1857.  LICHTENFELS.  21 


CHAPTEE  II. 

Fiskernaes  and  Esquimaux  —  The  '  Fox '  reaches  Disco  —  Disco 
Fiord  —  Summer  scenery  —  Waigat  Strait  —  Coaling  from  the 
mine  —  Purchasing  Esquimaux  dogs  —  Heavy  gale  off  Uper- 
nivik  —  Melville  Bay  —  The  middle  ice  —  The  great  glacier 
of  Greenland  —  Keindeer  cross  the  glacier. 

23rd  July, — Sailed  the  day  before  yesterday  for 
Grodhaab.  The  fog  was  thick,  and  wind  strong 
and  contrary,  but  the  current  being  favourable 
we  found  ourselves  off  the  small  out  station  of 
Fiskernaes,  when  early  this  morning  our  fore 
topmast  was  carried  away ;  this  accident  induced 
me  to  run  in  and  anchor  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
pairing the  damage. 

After  passing  within  the  outer  islets  the  Mo- 
ravian settlement  of  Lichtenfels  came  in  view 
upon  the  right  hand ;  it  consists  of  a  large 
sombre-looking  wooden  house  over  which  is  a 
belfry,  a  smaller  wooden  house,  and  about  a 
dozen  native  huts  roofed  with  sods,  and  scarcely 
distinguishable  from  the  ground  they  stand  on, 
even  at  a  very  short  distance.  The  land  imme- 
diately behind  is  a  barren  rocky  steep,  now  just 
sufficiently  denuded  of  snow  to  look  desolate  in 


22  FISKEKNAES,  .    Chap.  II. 

the  extreme.  A  strong  tide  was  setting  out 
of  the  fiord,  as  we  approached  and  an- 
chored in  the  rocky  little  cove  of  Fiskernaes : 
here  we  were  not  only  sheltered  from  the  wind, 
but  the  steep  dark  rocks  within  a  ship's  length 
on  each  side  of  us  reflected  a  strong  heat,  whilst 
large  mosquitoes  lost  no  time  in  paying  us  their 
annoying  visits.  This  remote  spot  has  been 
visited  by  the  Arctic  voyagers  Captain  Ingle- 
field,  E.N.,  and  Dr.  Kane,  U.S.N.,  and  still 
more  recently  by  Prince  Napoleon.  Dr.  Kane's 
account  of  his  visit  is  full  and  very  interesting. 
Cod-fishing  was  now  in  full  activity,  and  the  few 
men  not  so  employed  had  gone  up  the  fiord  to 
hunt  reindeer. 

The  solitary  dwelling-house  belongs  of  course 
to  the  chief  trader,  and  is  a  model  of  cleanliness 
and  order ;  built  of  wood,  it  exhibits  all  the  re- 
sources of  the  painter's  art ;  the  exterior  is  a  dull 
red,  the  window-frames  are  white,  floors  yellow, 
wooden  partitions  and  low  ceilings  pale  blue. 
The  lady  of  the  house  had  resided  here  for  about 
eight  years,  and  appeared  to  us  to  be,  and  acknow- 
ledged she  was,  heartily  tired  of  the  solitude. 
She  gave  me  coffee,  and  some  seeds  for  cultiva- 
tion at  our  winter  quarters  :  these  were  lettuce, 
spinach,  turnips,  carraway,  and  peas,  the  latter 
being   the   common  kind  used  on  board  ship ; 


July,  1857.  AND  ESQUIMAUX.  23 

usually  they  have  only  produced  leaves  on  this 
spot,  but  once  the  young  peas  grew  large  enough 
for  the  table.  I  expressed  a  wish  to  see  the 
interior  of  an  Esquimaux  tent.  Petersen  pulled 
aside  the  thin  membrane  of  some  animal,  which 
hung  across  a  doorway,  and  served  to  exclude 
the  wind,  but  admitted  light,  for,  although  past 
midnight,  the  sun  was  up.  Some  seven  or  eight 
individuals  lay  within  closely  packed  upon  the 
ground ;  the  heads  of  old  and  young,  males  and 
females,  being  just  visible  above  the  common 
covering.  Going  to  bed  here  only  means  lying 
down  with  your  clothes  on,  upon  a  reindeer  skin, 
wherever  you  can  find  room,  and  pulling  ano- 
ther fur-robe  over  you. 

Fiskernaes  appeared  to  be  a  sunny  little  nook, 
yet  all  the  people  we  saw  there  were  suffering 
from  colds  and  coughs,  and  many  deaths  had 
occurred  during  the  spring.  The  boys  brought 
us  handfuls  of  rough  garnets,  some  of  them  as 
large  as  walnuts,  receiving  with  evident  satis- 
faction biscuits  in  exchange. 

By  next  morning  we  were  able  to  put  to  sea, 
and  early  on  the  day  following  arrived  off  the 
large  settlement  of  Godhaab  ;  it  is  in  the  "  Gil- 
bert Sound"  of  Davis,  and  appears  in  many 
old  charts  as  Baal's  River.  Almost  adjoining 
Godhaab   is  the  Moravian   settlement   of  New 


24  MOKAVIAN  MISSIONS.  Chap.  II. 

Herrnhut.  Here  it  was  that  Hans  Egede,  the 
missionary  father  of  Greenland,  established 
himself  in  1721,  and  thus  re-opened  the  com- 
munication between  Europe  and  Greenland, 
which  had  ceased  upon  the  extinction  of  its 
early  Scandinavian  settlers  in  the  14th  century. 

A  few  years  after  Egede's  successful  begin- 
ning, the  Moravian  mission  still  existing  under 
the  name  of  New  Herrnhut  was  established. 
At  present  the  Moravians  support  four  missions 
in  Greenland ;  they  are  not  subject  to  the  Danish 
authorities,  but  are  not  permitted  in  any  way  to 
trade. 

As  we  were  about  to  enter  the  harbour,  the 
Danish  vessel — the  sole  object  of  our  visit — 
came  out,  so  not  a  moment  was  lost  in  sending 
on  board  our  invalid  and  our  letter-bag,  and  in 
landing  our  coasting  pilot.  This  man  had 
brought  us  up  from  Frederickshaab  for  the  very 
moderate  sum  of  three  pounds ;  he  was  an 
Esquimaux,  and,  as  the  brother  of  poor  Hans, 
Dr.  Kane's  unhappy  dog-driver,  was  received 
with  favour  amongst  us,  and  soon  won  our 
esteem  by  his  quiet  obliging  disposition,  as  also 
by  his  ability  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty ;  he 
was  so  keensighted  and  so  vigilant,  it  was 
quite  a  comfort  to  have  him  on  board  during 
the  foggy  weather,  for  he  could  recognise  on 


July,  1857.       THE  'FOX'  REACHES  DISCO.  25 

the  instant  every  rock  or  point,  even  when 
dimly  looming  through  the  mist.  We  were  not 
long  in  discovering  that  his  absence  was  a  loss 
to  us. 

When  passing  out  to  the  north  of  the  Koo- 
kornen  islands,  the  wind  suddenly  failed,  and 
at  the  same  time  a  swell  from  to  seaward 
reached  us ;  we  therefore  had  considerable  diffi- 
culty in  towing  the  ship  clear  of  the  rocks ;  for 
nearly  half  an  hour  our  position  was  most 
critical. 

July  31st.  —  Anchored  at  Godhaven  (or 
Lievely),  in  Disco,  for  a  few  hours.  I  presented 
a  letter  from  the  Directors  of  the  Eoyal  Green- 
land Commerce  to  the  Inspector  of  North 
Greenland,  Mr.  Olrik,  authorising  him  to  furnish 
us  with  any  needful  supplies.  Our  only  wants 
were  sledge-dogs  and  a  native  to  manage  them. 
We  soon  obtained  ten  of  the  former,  but  were 
advised  to  go  into  Disco  Fiord,  where  many  of 
the  Esquimaux  were  busy  in  taking  and  drying 
salmon-trout,  and  where  some  would  most  pro- 
bably be  obtained. 

I  was  much  pleased  with  Mr.  Olrik's  kind 
reception  of  me,  and  soon  found  him  to  be  not 
only  agreeable  but  well  informed ;  born  in 
Greenland  of  Danish  parents,  he  is  thoroughly 
conversant  with  the  language  and  habits  of  the 


26  DISCO  FIOED.  Chap.  II, 

Esquimaux,  and  has  devoted  much  of  his  leisure 
time  in  collecting  rare  specimens  of  the  animal, 
vegetable,  and  mineral  productions  of  the 
country.  I  came  away  enriched  by  some  fossils 
from  the  fossil  forest  of  Atanekerdluk,  also  with 
specimens  of  native  coal. 

It  was  here  I  met  with  the  late  commanders 
of  the  whalers  ?  Gripsy '  and  ?  Undaunted,'  of 
Peterhead,  which  had  been  crushed  by  the  ice 
in  Melville  Bay  five  or  six  weeks  previously ; 
all  the  other  whalers  had  returned  from  the 
north  along  the  pack  edge,  and  passed  south  of 
Disco.  They  said  that  the  ice  in  Melville  Bay 
was  all  broken  up,  and  that  they  thought  we 
should  find  but  little  difficulty  at  this  late  period 
in  passing  through  it  into  the  North  Water. 

Leaving  Godhaven  in  the  afternoon  with  a 
native  pilot,  we  found  ourselves  some  10  or 
12  miles  up  Disco  Fiord  at  an  early  hour  next 
morning.  After  despatching  the  pilot  to  an- 
nounce our  arrival  to  his  countrymen  at  their 
fishing  station,  7  or  8  miles  further  up,  the  Doctor 
and  I  landed  upon  the  north  side  to  explore. 

The  scenery  is  charming,  lofty  hills  of  trap 
rock,  with  unusually  rich  slopes  (for  the  70th 
parallel)  descending  to  the  fiord,  and  strewed 
with  boulders  of  gneiss  and  granite.  We  found 
the  blue  campanula  holding  a  conspicuous  place 


July,  1857.     CHRISTIAN,  THE  DOG-DRIVER.  27 

amongst  the  wild  flowers.  I  do  not  know  a 
more  enticing  spot  in  Greenland  for  a  week's 
shooting,  fishing,  and  yachting  than  Disco 
Fiord ;  hares  and  ptarmigan  may  be  found 
along  the  bases  of  the  hills ;  ducks  are  most 
abundant  upon  the  fiord,  and  delicious  salmon- 
trout  very  plentiful  in  the  rivers.  Formerly 
Disco  was  famed  for  the  large  size  and  abundance 
of  its  reindeer ;  but  for  some  unexplained  reason 
they  now  confine  themselves  to  the  mainland. 

At  this  season  the  natives  of  Grodhaab  resort 
here  and  enjoy  the  trout  fishery, — it  is  truly 
their  season  of  harvest :  the  weather  is  pleasant, 
food  delicious  and  abundant,  and  the  labour  an 
agreeable  pastime. 

Some  kayaks  soon  came  off  to  the  ship, 
bringing  salmon-trout,  both  fresh  and  smoked. 

A  young  Esquimaux,  named  Christian,  volun- 
teered his  services  as  our  dog-driver,  and  was 
accepted ;  he  is  about  23  years  of  age,  un- 
married, and  an  orphan.  The  men  soon  tho- 
roughly cleansed  and  cropped  him  :  soap  and 
scissors  being  novelties  to  an  Esquimaux  :  they 
then  rigged  him  in  sailor  s  clothes ;  he  was  evi- 
dently not  at  home  in  them,  but  was  not  the 
less  proud  of  his  improved  appearance,  as  re- 
flected in  the  admiring  glances  of  his  country- 
men. 


28  WAIGAT  STKAIT  — COALING.  Chap.  II. 

We  now  hastened  away  to  the  Waigat  Strait 
to  complete  our  coals.  When  passing  God- 
haven,  the  pilot  was  launched  off  our  deck  in 
his  little  kayak  without  stopping  the  ship  !  As 
a  kayak  is  usually  about  18  feet  long,  8  inches 
deep,  and  only  16  or  17  inches  wide,  it  requires 
great  expertness  to  perform  such  a  feat  without 
the  addition  of  a  capsize. 

4th  August.— Entered  the  Waigat  yesterday 
morning,  slowly  steaming  through  a  sea  of  glass. 
Its  surface  was  only  rippled  by  the  myriads  of 
eider-ducks  which  extended  over  it  for  several 
miles  :  most  of  them  were  immature  in  plumage, 
and  were  probably  the  birds  of  last  year. 

After  running  about  24  miles,  towards  even- 
ing we  approached  a  low  range  of  sandstone 
cliffs  on  the  Disco  shore,  in  which  horizontal 
seams  of  coal  were  seen.  Here  we  anchored, 
and  immediately  commenced  coaling.  It  was 
fortunate  we  did  so,  for  soon  it  began  to  blow 
hard ;  and  ere  noon  to-day  we  were  obliged,  for 
the  safety  of  the  ship,  to  leave  our  exposed 
anchorage,  having  however  secured  eight  or 
nine  tons  of  tolerable  coal.  Formerly  these 
coal-seams  were  worked  for  the  supply  of  the 
neighbouring  settlements,  but  for  several  years 
past  it  has  been  found  more  profitable  and  con- 
venient to  send  out  coals  from  Denmark,  and 


Aug.  1857.  WAIGAT  SCENEKY.  29 

thus  permit  the  natives  to  devote  their  whole 
time  to  the  seal-fishery. 

The  Waigat  scenery  is  unusually  grand ;  the 
strait  varies  from  3  to  5  leagues  in  width ;  on 
each  side  are  mountains  of  3000  feet  in  height. 
The  Disco  side,  upon  which  we  landed,  is  com- 
posed of  trap,  sandstone  appearing  only  at  the 
beach,  and  occasionally  rising  in  cliffs  to  about 
100  feet.  Upon  the  moss-clad  slopes  many 
fragments  of  quartz  and  zeolite  were  met  with. 
The  north  end  of  Disco  is  almost  a  precipice 
to  its  snow-capped  summit,  which  is  4000  feet 
high. 

6th. — A  pleasant  fair  wind  carries  us  rapidly 
northward,  passing  many  icebergs.  Our  rigging 
is  richly  garnished  with  split  codfish,  which  we 
hoped  would  dry  and  keep ;  but  a  warm  day  in 
Disco  Fiord,  and  much  rain  with  a  southerly  gale 
in  the  Waigat,  have  destroyed  it  for  our  own 
use.  It  is  however  still  valuable  as  food  for  our 
dogs.  I  am  very  anxious  to  complete  my  stock 
of  these  our  native  auxiliaries,  as  without  them 
we  cannot  hope  to  explore  all  the  lands  which  it 
is  the  object  of  our  voyage  to  search.  We  could 
only  obtain  ten  at  Godhaven,  and  require 
twenty  more. 

6th. — By  Petersen's  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  coast  we  were  enabled  to  run  close  in  to  the 


30  PURCHASING  ESQUIMAUX  DOGS.       Chap.  II. 

little  settlement  of  Proven  during  the  night, 
and  obtain  a  few  dogs  and  dogs'  food.  This 
morning  we  reached  the  extreme  station  of 
Upernivik,  the  last  trace  of  civilization  we  shall 
meet  with  for  some  time.  It  is  in  lat.  72f  N. 
Here  Petersen  resided  for  twelve  of  the  eighteen 
years  he  has  spent  in  Greenland,  and  his  un- 
looked-for reappearance  astonished  and  delighted 
the  small  community,  more  especially  Governor 
Fliescher  and  his  household,  who  received  us 
with  a  most  hearty  welcome. 

7th.— Yesterday,  when  we  hove  to  off  Uper- 
nivik, the  weather  was  very  bad  and  rapidly 
growing  worse,  therefore  our  stay  was  limited 
to  a  couple  of  hours.  The  last  letters  for  home 
were  landed,  fourteen  dogs  and  a  quantity  of 
seal's  flesh  for  them  embarked,  and  the  ship's 
head  was  turned  seaward. 

It  was  then  blowing  a  southerly  gale,  with 
overcast  murky  sky,  and  a  heavy  sea  running. 
When  four  miles  outside  the  outer  island,  break- 
ers were  suddenly  discovered  ahead,  only  just 
in  time  to  avoid  the  ledge  of  sunken  rocks  upon 
which  the  sea  was  beating  most  violently.  Many 
such  rocks  lie  at  considerable  distances  beyond 
the  islands  which  border  this  coast,  and  greatly 
add  to  the  dangers  of  its  navigation.  Being  now 
fairly  at  sea,  and  the  ship  under  easy  sail  for 


Aug.  1857.      HEAVY  GALE  OFF  UPERNIVIK.  31 

the  night,  I  went  early  to  bed  in  the  hope  of 
sleeping.  I  had  been  up  all  the  previous  night, 
naturally  anxious  about  the  ship  threading  her 
way  through  so  many  dangers,  uncertain  about 
being  able  to  complete  the  number  of  our  sledge- 
dogs,  and  much  occupied  in  closing  my  corre- 
spondence, to  which  there  would  be  an  end  for 
at  least  a  year.  All  this  over,  the  uncertain 
future  loomed  ominously  before  me.  The  great 
responsibilities  I  had  undertaken  seemed  now 
and  at  once  to  fall  with  all  their  weight  upon 
me.  A  mental  whirlpool  was  the  consequence, 
which,  backed  by  the  material  storm,  and  the 
howling  of  the  wretched  dogs  in  concert  on 
deck,  together  with  the  tumbling  about  of 
everything  below,  long  kept  sleep  in  abeyance. 
One  thought  and  feeling  predominated :  it  was 
gratitude,  deep  and  humble,  for  the  success 
which,  had  hitherto  attended  us,  and  for  some 
narrow  escapes  which  I  must  ever  regard  as 
Providential. 

Yesterday's  gale  has  given  place,  to  calm 
foggy  weather.  An  occasional  iceberg  is  seen. 
The  officers  amuse  themselves  in  trying  new 
guns,  and  shooting  sea-birds  for  our  dogs. 

Governor  Fliescher  told  me  yesterday  that  for 
the  last  four  weeks  southerly  winds  prevailed, 
and  that  only  a  fortnight  ago  his  boat  was  un- 


32  PASSAGE  THROUGH  BAFFIN'S  BAY.     Chap.  II. 

able  to  reach  the  Loom  Cliffs  at  Cape  Shackle- 
ton,  50  miles  north  of  Upernivik,  in  consequence 
of  the  ice  being  pressed  in  against  the  land.  I 
fear  these  same  winds  have  closed  together  the 
ice  which  occupies  the  middle  of  Davis'  Strait 
(hence  called  the  middle  ice),  so  that  we  shall 
not  be  able  to  penetrate  it.  However,  we  are 
standing  out  to  make  the  attempt. 

To  the  uninitiated  it  may  be  as  well  to  ob- 
serve that  each  winter  the  sea  called  Baffin's 
Bay  freezes  over ;  in  spring  this  vast  body  of 
ice  breaks  up,  and  drifting  southward  in  a 
mass — called  the  main-pack,  or  the  middle  ice — 
obstructs  the  passage  across  from  east  to  west. 

The  "  North  Passage  "is  made  by  sailing 
round  the  north  end  of  this  pack  ;  the  "  Middle 
Passage,"  by  pushing  through  it ;  and  the 
"  Southern  Passage,"  by  passing  round  its 
southern  extreme  ;  but  seasons  do  occur  when 
none  of  these  routes  are  practicable. 

It  is  very  remarkable  that  southward  of  Disco 
northerly  winds  have  prevailed.  They  greatly 
impeded  our  progress  up  Davis'  Strait,  but  we 
cheered  ourselves  with  the  hope  that  they  would 
effectually  clear  a  path  for  us  across  the  northern 
part  of  Baffin's  Bay. 

8th. — Last  night  we  reached  the  edge  of  the 
middle  ice,  about  70  miles  to  the  west  of  Uper- 


Aug.  1857.  MELVILLE  BAY.  33 

nivik,  and  ran  southward  along  its  edge  all 
night.  This  morning,  in  thick  fog,  the  ship  was 
caught  in  its  margin  of  loose  ice.  The  fog  soon 
after  cleared  off,  and  we  saw  the  clear  sea  about 
two  miles  to  the  eastward,  whilst  all  to  the 
west  was  impenetrable  closely-packed  floe-pieces. 
After  steaming  out  of  our  predicament  (a  matter 
which  we  could  not  accomplish  under  sail)  we 
Tan  on  to  the  southward  until  evening,  but  found 
the  pack  edge  still  composed  of  light  ice  very 
closely  pressed  together. 

Having  now  closely  examined  it  for  an  extent 
of  40  miles,  I  was  satisfied  that  we  could  not 
force  a  passage  through  it  across  Baffin's  Bay, 
as  is  frequently  done  in  ordinary  seasons :  there- 
fore, taking  advantage  of  a  fair  wind,  we  steered 
to  the  northward,  in  order  to  seek  an  opening 
in  that  direction. 

12th. — We  are  in  Melville  Bay  ;  made  fast  this 
afternoon  to  an  iceberg,  which  lies  aground  in 
58  fathoms  water,  about  2  miles  from  Browne's 
Islands,  and  between  them  and  the  great  glacier 
which  here  takes  the  place  of  the  coast-line. 

We  have  got  thus  far  without  any  difficulty, 
sailing  along  the  edge  of  the  middle  ice ;  but 
here  we  find  it  pressing  in  against  Browne's 
Islands,  and  covering  the  whole  bay  to  the 
northward,  quite  in  to  the   steep  face   of  the 

D 


34  THE  MIDDLE  ICE.  Chap.  II. 

glacier.  This  is  evidently  the  result  of  long- 
continued  southerly  winds  ;  but  as  the  ice  is 
very  much  broken  up,  we  may  expect  it  to  move 
off  rapidly  before  the  autumnal  northerly  winds 
now  due,  and  these  winds  invariably  remove 
the  previous  season's  ice.  All  that  we  know  of 
Melville  Bay  navigation  in  August  is  derived 
from  the  experience  of  Government  and  private 
searching  expeditions  during  eight  or  nine  sea- 
sons. My  own  three  previous  transits  across  it 
were  made  in  this  month.  The  whalers  either  get 
through  in  June  or  July,  or  give  up  the  attempt 
as  being  too  late  for  their  fishing.  It  frequently 
happens  that  they  get  round  the  south  end  of 
the  middle  ice,  between  latitudes  66°  and  69°  N., 
and  up  the  west  coast  of  Baffin's  Bay  late  in 
the  season ;  but  we  have  no  accounts  of  these 
voyages,  nor  should  I  be  justified,  at  this  late 
period  of  the  season,  in  abandoning  the  prospect 
before  me,  in  order  to  attempt  a  route  which, 
even  if  successful,  would  lengthen  our  voyage  to 
Barrow's  Strait  by  700  or  800  miles.  We  have 
already  passed  what  is  usually  the  most  difficult 
and  dangerous  part  of  the  Melville  Bay  transit. 
There  is  much  to  excite  intense  admiration 
and  wonder  around  us ;  one  cannot  at  once 
appreciate  the  grandeur  of  this  mighty  glacier, 
extending  unbroken  for  40  or  50  miles.    Its  sea- 


Aug.  1857.   GEEAT  GLACIER  OF  GREENLAND.  35 

cliffs,  about  5  or  6  miles  from  us,  appear  compa- 
ratively low,  yet  the  icebergs  detached  from  it 
are  of  the  loftiest  description.  Here,  on  the 
spot,  it  does  not  seem  incorrect  to  compare  the 
icebergs  to  mere  chippings  off  its  edge,  and  the 
floe-ice  to  the  thinnest  shavings. 

The  far-off  outline  of  glacier,  seen  against  the 
eastern  sky,  has  a  faint  tinge  of  yellow :  it  is 
almost  horizontal,  and  of  unknown  distance  and 
elevation. 

There  is  an  unusual  dearth  of  birds  and  seals  : 
everything  around  us  is  painfully  still,  excepting 
when  an  occasional  iceberg  splits  off  from  the 
parent  glacier;  then  we  hear  a  rumbling  crash 
like  distant  thunder,  and  the  wave  occasioned 
by  the  launch  reaches  us  in  six  or  seven  minutes, 
and  makes  the  ship  roll  lazily  for  a  similar 
period.  I  cannot  imagine  that  within  the  whole 
compass  of  nature's  varied  aspects  there  is  pre- 
sented to  the  human  eye  a  scene  so  well  adapted 
for  promoting  deep  and  serious  reflection,  for 
lifting  the  thoughts  from  trivial  things  of  every- 
day life  to  others  of  the  highest  import. , 

The  glacier  serves  to  remind  one  at  once  of 
Time  and  of  Eternity — of  time,  since  we  see 
portions  of  it  break  off  to  drift  and  melt  away; 
and  of  eternity,  since  its  downward  march  is  so 
extremely  slow,  and  its  augmentations  behind  so 

d  2 


36  GKEAT  GLACIER  OF  GREENLAND.      Chap.  II. 

regular,  that  no  change  in  its  appearance  is  per- 
ceptible from  age  to  age.  If  even  the  untaught 
savages  of  luxuriant  tropical  regions  regard  the 
earth  merely  as  a  temporary  abode,  surely  ball 
who  gaze  upon  this  ice-overwhelmed  region, 
this  wide  expanse  of  "  terrestrial  wreck,"  must 
be  similarly  assured  that  here  "  we  have  no 
abiding  place." 

During  daytime  the  strong  glare  is  very  dis- 
tressing, hence  the  subdued  light  of  midnight, 
when  the  sun  just  skims  along  the  northern 
horizon,  is  much  the  most  agreeable  part  of  the 
twenty-four  hours ;  the  temperature  varies  be- 
tween 30°  and  40°  of  Fahrenheit. 

The  drift-ice  of  various  descriptions  about  us 
is  constantly  in  motion  under  the  influence  of 
mysterious  surface  and  under  currents  (according 
to  their  relative  depths  of  floatation),  which 
whirl  them  about  in  every  possible  direction. 

To  the  S.E.  are  two  small  islands,  almost 
enveloped  in  the  glacier,  and  far  within  it 
an  occasional  mountain-peak  protrudes  from 
beneath. 

From  observing  closely  the  variations  in  the 
glacier  surface,  I  think  we  may  safely  infer  that 
where  it  lies  unbroken  and  smooth,  the  support- 
ing land  is  level ;  and  where  much  crevassed, 
the   land  beneath   is   uneven.      The   crevassed 


Aug.  1857.    REINDEER  CROSS  THE  GLACIER.  37 

parts  are  of  course  impassable,  but,  by  following 
the  windings  of  the  smooth  surface,  I  think  the 
interior  could  be  reached.  Some  attempts  to 
cross  the  glacier  in  South  Greenland  have  failed, 
yet,  by  studying  its  character  and  attending  to 
this  remark,  I  think  places  might  be  found 
where  an  attempt  would  succeed.  Mr.  Petersen 
tells  me  that  the  Esquimaux  of  Upernivik  are 
unable  to  account  for  occasional  disappearances 
and  reappearances  of  immense  herds  of  rein- 
deer, except  by  assuming  that  they  migrate  at 
intervals  to  feeding-grounds  beyond  the  glacier, 
the  surface  of  which  he  also  says  is  smooth 
enough  in  many  places  even  for  dog-sledges  to 
travel  upon.  As  there  is  much  uninhabited 
land  both  to  the  northward  and  southward  of 
Upernivik,  I  do  not  see  the  necessity  for  this 
supposition.  The  habits  of  the  Esquimaux 
confine  them  almost  exclusively  to  the  islands 
and  seacoasts. 


38  MELVILLE  BAY.  Chap.  III. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

Melville  Bay  —  Beset  in  Melville  Bay  —  Signs  of  winter  —  The 
coming  storm  —  Drifting  in  the  pack  ■ —  Canine-  appetite  — 
Eesigned  to  a  winter  in  the  pack  —  Dinner  stolen  by  sharks  — 
The  Arctic  shark  —  White  whales  and  Killers. 

16th  Aug. — Three  days  of  the  most  perfect  calm 
have  sadly  taxed  our  patience.  Lovely  bright 
weather,  but  scarcely  a  living  creature  seen. 
This  afternoon  the  anxiously-looked-for  north 
wind  sprang  up,  and  immediately  the  light  ice 
began  to  drift  away  before  it,  but  it  is  not 
strong  enough  to  influence  the  icebergs,  and 
they  greatly  retard  the  clearing-out  of  the  bay. 
We  have  noticed  a  constant  wind  off  the  glacier, 
probably  the  result  of  its  cooling  effect  upon  the 
atmosphere  ;  this  wind  does  not  extend  more 
than  3  or  4  miles  out  from  it. 

16th. — One  of  the  loveliest  mornings  ima- 
ginable :  the  icebergs  sparkled  in  the  sun,  and 
the  breeze  was  just  sufficiently  strong  to  ripple 
the  patches  of  dark  blue  sea ;  beyond  this,  there 
was  nothing  to  cheer  one  in  the  prospect  from 
the  Crow's-nest  at  four  o'clock ;  but  little  change 
had  taken  place  in  the  ice ;  I  therefore  deter- 


Aug.  1857.  MELVILLE  BAY.  39 

mined  to  run  back  along  the  pack-edge  to  the 
south-westward,  in  the  hope  that  some  favourable 
change  might  have  taken  place  further  off  shore. 
The  barometer  was  unusually  low,  yet  no  indi- 
cation of  any  change  of  weather.  A  seaman's 
chest  was  picked  up ;  it  contained  only  a  spoon, 
a  fork,  and  some  tin  canisters,  and  probably 
drifted  here  from  the  southward,  where  the  two 
whale-ships  were  crushed  in  June,  affording 
another  proof  of  the  prevalence  of  southerly 
winds.  As  we  steamed  on,  the  ice  was  found 
to  have  opened  considerably  ;  it  fell  calm,  and 
mist  was  observed  rolling  along  the  glacier  from 
the  southward.  By  noon  a  S.E.  wind  reached 
us ;  all  sail  was  set,  the  leads  or  lanes  of  water 
became  wider,  and  our  hopes  of  speedily  crossing 
Melville  Bay  rose  in  proportion  as  our  speed 
increased.  We  are  pursuing  our  course  without 
let  or  hindrance. 

1 7th. — The  fog  overtook  us  yesterday  evening, 
and  at  length,  unable  to  see  our  way,  we  made 
fast  at  eleven  o'clock  to  the  ice.  The  wind  had 
freshened,  it  was  evidently  blowing  a  gale  out- 
side the  ice.  During  the  night  we  drifted 
rapidly  together  with  the  ice,  and  this  morning, 
on  the  clearing  off  of  the  fog,  we  steamed  and 
sailed  on  again,  threading  our  way  between  the 
floes,  which  are  larger  and  much  covered  with 


40  MELVILLE  BAY.  Chap.  III. 

dry  snow.  This  evening  we  again  made  fast, 
the  floes  having  closed  together,  cutting  off 
advance  and  retreat.  A  wintry  night,  much 
wind  and  snow. 

19tfA. — Continued  strong  S.E.  winds,  pressing 
the  ice  closely  together,  dark  sky  and  snow ; 
everything  wears  a  wintry  and  threatening 
aspect ;  we  are  closely  hemmed  in,  and  have 
our  rudder  and  screw  unshipped.  This  recom- 
mencement of  S.E.  winds  and  rapid  ebbing  of 
the  small  remaining  portion  of  summer  makes 
me  more  anxious  about  the  future  than  the  pre- 
sent. Yesterday  the  weather  improved,  and  by 
working  for  thirteen  hours  we  got  the  ship  out 
of  her  small  ice-creek  into  a  larger  space  of 
water,  and  in  so  doing  advanced  a  mile  and  a 
half.  It  is  now  calm,  but  the  ice  still  drifts,  as 
we  would  wish  it,  to  the  N.W.  Yesterday  we 
were  within  12  miles  of  the  position  of  the 
*  Enterprise'  upon  the  same  day  in  1848,  and 
under  very  similar  conditions  of  weather  and 
ice  also. 

20th. — No  favourable  ice-drift :  this  detention 
has  become  most  painful.  The  '  Enterprise ' 
reached  the  open  water  upon  this  day  in  1848, 
within  50  miles  of  our  present  position  ;  unfor- 
tunately, our  prospects  are  not  so  cheering. 
There  is  no  relative  motion  in  the  floes  of  ice, 


Aug.  1857.  BESET  IN  MELVILLE  BAY.  41 

except  a  gradual  closing  together,  the  small 
spaces  and  streaks  of  water  being  still  further 
diminished.  The  temperature  has  fallen,  and  is 
usually  below  the  freezing-point.  I  feel  most 
keenly  the  difficulty  of  my  position ;  we  cannot 
afford  to*  lose  many  more  days.  Of  all  the 
voyages  to  Barrow  Strait,  there  are  but  two 
which  were  delayed  beyond  this  date,  viz., 
Parry's  in  1824,  and  the  '  Prince  Albert's'  in 
1851.  Should  we  not  be  released,  and  there- 
fore be  compelled  to  winter  in  this  pack,  not- 
withstanding all  our  efforts,  I  shall  repeat  the 
trial  next  year,  and  in  the  end,  with  God's  aid, 
perform  my  sacred  duty. 

The  men  enjoy  a  game  of  rounders  on  the 
ice  each  evening  ;  Petersen  and  Christian  are 
constantly  on  the  look-out  for  seals,  as  well  as 
Hobson  and  Young  occasionally  ;  if  in  good 
condition  and  killed  instantaneously,  the  seals 
float ;  several  have  already  been  shot ;  the  liver 
fried  with  bacon  is  excellent. 

Birds  have  become  scarce, — the  few  we  see  are 
returning  southward.  How  anxiously  I  watch 
the  ice,  weather,  barometer,  and  thermometer ! 
Wind  from  any  other  quarter  than  S.E.  would 
oblige  the  floe-pieces  to  rearrange  themselves, 
in  doing  which  they  would  become  loose,  and 
then  would  be  our  opportunity  to  proceed. 


42  BESET  IN  MELVILLE  BAY.  Chap.  III. 

24^.— Fine  weather  with  very  light  northerly 
winds.  We  have  drifted  7  miles  to  the  west  in 
the  last  two  days.  The  ice  is  now  a  close  pack, 
so  close  that  one  may  walk  for  many  miles  over  it 
in  any  direction,  by  merely  turning  a  little  to 
the  right  or  left  to  avoid  the  small  water  spaces. 
My  frequent  visits  to  the  crow's-nest  are  not  in- 
spiriting :  how  absolutely  distressing  this  im- 
prisonment is  to  me,  no  one  without  similar 
experience  can  form  any  idea.  As  yet  the  crew 
have  but  little  suspicion  how  blighted  our  pro- 
spects are. 

27th. — We  daily  make  attempts  to  push  on, 
and  sometimes  get  a  ship's  length,  but  yester- 
day evening  we  made  a  mile  and  a  half !  the  ice 
then  closed  against  the  ship's  sides  and  lifted  her 
about  a  foot.  We  have  had  a  fresh  east  wind 
for  two  days,  but  no  corresponding  ice-drift  to 
the  west ;  this  is  most  discouraging,  and  can 
only  be  accounted  for  by  supposing  the  existence 
of  much  ice  or  grounded  icebergs  in  that  direc- 
tion. 

The  dreaded  reality  of  wintering  in  the  pack 
is  gradually  forcing  itself  upon  my  mind, — but  I 
must  not  write  on  this  subject,  it  is  bad  enough 
to  brood  over  it  unceasingly.  We  can  see  the 
land  all  round  Melville  Bay,  from  Cape  Walker 
nearly  to  Cape  York.     Petersen  is  indefatigable 


Aug.  1857.  SEAL-SHOOTING.  43 

at  seal-shooting,  he  is  so  anxious  to  secure  them 
for  our  dogs ;  he  says  they  must  be  hit  in  the 
head;  "if  you  hit  him  in  the  beef  that  is  not 
good,"  meaning  that  a  flesh-wound  does  not 
prevent  their  escaping  under  the  ice.  Petersen 
and  Christian  practise  an  Esquimaux  mode  of 
attracting  the  seals ;  they  scrape  the  ice,  thus 
making  a  noise  like  that  produced  by  a  seal  in 
making  a  hole  with  its  flippers,  and  then  place 
one  end  of  a  pole  in  the  water  and  put  their 
mouths  close  to  the  other  end,  making  noises  in 
imitation  of  the  snorts  and  grunts  of  their 
intended  victims  ;  whether  the  device  is  success- 
ful or  not  I  do  not  know,  but  it  looks  laughable 
enough. 

Christian  came  back  a  few  days  ago,  like  a 
true  seal-hunter,  carrying  his  kayak  on  his  head, 
and  dragging  a  seal  behind  him.  Only  two 
years  ago  Petersen  returned  across  this  bay 
with  Dr.  Kane's  retreating  party  ;  he  shot  a  seal 
which  they  devoured  raw,  and  which,  under 
Providence,  saved  their  lives.  Petersen  is  a 
good  ice-pilot,  knows  all  these  coasts  as  well  as 
or  better  than  any  man  living,  and,  from  long 
experience  and  habits  of  observation,  is  almost 
unerring  in  his  prognostications  of  the  weather. 
Besides  his  great  value  to  us  as  interpreter,  few 
men  are  better  adapted  for  Arctic  work; — an 


44  PROGRESS  ACROSS  THE  BAY.        Chap.  III. 

ardent  sportsman,  an  agreeable  companion, 
never  at  a  loss  for  occupation  or  amusement, 
and  always  contented  and  sanguine.  But  we 
have  happily  many  such  dispositions  in  the 
<  Fox.' 

30th. — The  whole  distance  across  Melville 
Bay  is  1 70  miles :  of  this  we  have  performed 
about  120,  40  of  which  we  have  drifted  in 
the  last  fourteen  days.  The  ' Isabel'  sailed 
freely  over  this  spot  on  20th  August,  1852  ;  and 
the  <  North  Star'  was  beset  on  30th  July,  1849, 
to  the  southward  of  Melville  Bay,  and  carried 
in  the  ice  across  it  and  some  70  or  80  miles 
beyond,  when  she  was  set  free  on  26th  Sep- 
tember, and  went  into  winter  quarters  in  Wol- 
stenholme  Sound.     What  a  precedent  for  us  ! 

Yesterday  we  set  to  work  as  usual  to  warp 
the  ship  along,  and  moved  her  ten  feet :  an  in- 
significant hummock  then  blocked  up  the  narrow 
passage ;  as  we  could  not  push  it  before  us,  a 
two-pound  blasting  charge  was  exploded,  and 
the  surface  ice  was  shattered,  but  such  an  im- 
mense quantity  of  broken  ice  came  up  from 
beneath,  that  the  difficulty  was  greatly  increased 
instead  of  being  removed.  This  is  one  of  the 
many  instances  in  which  our  small  vessel  labours 
under  very  great  disadvantages  in  ice-naviga- 
tion— we  have  neither  sufficient  manual  power, 


Sept.  1857.  THE  COMING  STORM.  45 

steam  power,  nor  impetus  to  force  the  floes 
asunder.  I  am  convinced  that  a  steamer  of 
moderate  size  and  power,  with  a  crew  of  forty 
or  fifty  men,  would  have  got  through  a  hundred 
miles  of  such  ice  in  less  time  than  we  have  been 
beset.   * 

The  temperature  fell  to  25°  last  night,  and 
the  pools  are  strongly  frozen  over.  I  now  look 
matters  steadily  and  calmly  in  the  face  ;  whilst 
reasonable  ground  for  hope  remained  I  was 
anxious  in  the  extreme.  The  dismal  prospect  of 
a  "  winter  in  the  pack "  has  scarcely  begun  to 
dawn  upon  the  crew ;  however,  I  do  not  think 
they  will  be  much  upset  by  it.  They  had  some 
exciting  foot-races  on  the  ice  yesterday  evening. 

1st  Sept. — The  indications  of  an  approaching 
S.E.  gale  are  at  all  times  sufficiently  apparent 
here,  and  fortunately  so,  as  it  is  the  dangerous 
wind  in  Melville  Bay.  It  was  on  the  morning 
of  the  30th,  before  church-time,  that  they  at- 
tracted our  attention  :  the  wind  was  very  light, 
but  barometer  low  and  falling ;  very  threatening 
appearances  in  the  S.E.  quarter,  dark-blue  sky, 
and  grey  detached  clouds  slowly  rising ;  when* 
the  wind  commenced  the  barometer  began  to 
rise.  This  gale  lasted  forty-eight  hours,  and 
closed  up  every  little  space  of  water ;  at  first  all 
the  ice   drifted    before    the   wind,  but  latterly 


46  DRIFTING  IN  THE  PACK.  Chap,  III. 

remained  stationary.     Twenty  seals  have  been 
shot  up  to  this  time. 

On  comparing  Petersen's  experience  with  my 
own  and  that  of  the  *  North  Star '  in  1849,  it 
seems  probable  that  the  ice  along  the  shores  of 
Melville  Bay,  at  this  season,  will  drift  north- 
ward close  along  the  land  as  far  as  Cape  Parry, 
where,  meeting  with  a  S.W.  current  out  of 
Whale  or  Smith's  Sound,  it  will  be  carried  away 
into  the  middle  of  Baffin's  Bay,  and  thence 
during  the  winter  down  Davis'  Strait  into  the 
Atlantic.  From  Cape  Dudley  Digges  to  Cape 
Parry,  including  Wolstenholme  Sound,  open 
water  remains  until  October.  It  is  strange  that 
we  have  ceased  to  drift  lately  to  the  westward. 

6th. — During  the  last  week  we  have  only 
drifted  9  miles  to  the  west.  Obtained  soundings 
in  88  fathoms;  this  is  a  discovery,  and  not  an 
agreeable  one.  Of  the  six  or  seven  icebergs  in 
sight,  the  nearest  are  to  the  west  of  us ;  they  are 
very  large,  and  appear  to  be  aground ;  we 
approach  them  slowly.  Pleasant  weather,  but 
the  winds  are  much  too  gentle  to  be  of  service 
to  us;  although  the  nights  are  cold,  yet  during 
the  day  our  men  occasionally  do  their  sewing 
on  deck.  Our  companions  the  seals  are  larger 
and  fatter  than  formerly,  therefore  they  float 
when  shot ;  we  are  disposed  to  attribute  their 


Sept.  1857.  DRIFTING  IN  THE  PACK.  47 

improved  condition  to  better  feeding  upon  this 
bank.  The  dredge  brought  up  some  few  shell- 
fish, starfish,  stones,  and  much  soft  mud. 

dth—  On  this  day  in  1824  Sir  Edward  Parry 
got  out  of  the  middle  ice,  and  succeeded  in 
reaching^Port  Bowen.  To  continue  hoping  for 
release  in  time  to  reach  Bellot  Strait  would  be 
absurd ;  yet  to  employ  the  men  we  continue  our 
preparation  of  tents,  sledges,  and  gear  for  tra- 
velling. Two  days  ago  the  ice  became  more 
slack  than  usual,  and  a  long  lane  opened;  its 
western  termination  could  not  be  seen  from  aloft. 
Every  effort  was  made  to  get  into  this  water, 
and  by  the  aid  of  steam  and  blasting-powder  we 
advanced  100  yards  out  of  the  intervening  170 
yards  of  ice,  when  the  floes  began  to  close  to- 
gether, a  S.E.  wind  having  sprung  up.  Had 
we  succeeded  in  reaching  the  water,  I  think  we 
should  have  extricated  ourselves  completely,  and 
perhaps  ere  this  have  reached  Barrow  Strait,  but 
S.E.  and  S.W.  gales  succeeded,  and  it  now 
blows  a  S.S.E.  gale  with  sleet. 

10^A. — Young  went  to  the  large  icebergs  to- 
day ;  the  nearest  of  them  is  250  feet  high,  and  in 
83  fathoms  water;  it  is  therefore  probably 
aground,  except  at  spring-tide ;  the  floe  ice  was 
drifting  past  it  to  the  westward,  and  was  crush- 
ing up  against  its  sides  to  a  height  of  50  feet. 


48  CANINE  APPETITE.  Chap.  III. 

13th. — Thermometer  has  fallen  to  17°  at  noon. 
We  have  drifted  18  miles  to  the  W.  in  the  last 
week  ;  therefore  our  neighbours  the  icebergs  are 
not  always  aground,  but  even  when  afloat  drift 
more  slowly  than  the  light  ice.  There  is  a 
water-sky  to  the  W.  and  N.W. ;  it  is  nearest 
to  us  in  the  direction  of  Cape  York  :  could  we 
only  advance  12  or  15  miles  in  that  direction, 
I  am  convinced  we  should  be  free  to  steer  for 
Barrow  Strait.  Forty-three  seals  have  been 
secured  for  the  dogs ;  one  dog  is  missing,  the 
remaining  twenty-nine  devoured  their  two  days' 
allowance  of  seal's  flesh  (60  or  65  lbs.)  in  forty- 
two  seconds!  it  contained  no  bone,  and  had 
been  cut  up  into  small  pieces,  and  spread  out 
upon  the  snow,  before  they  were  permitted  to 
rush  to  dinner  ;  in  this  way  the  weak  enjoy  a 
fair  chance,  and  there  is  no  time  for  fighting. 
We  do  not  allow  them  on  board. 

16/A. — At  length  we  have  drifted  past  the 
large  icebergs,  obtaining  soundings  in  69  fa- 
thoms within  a  mile  of  them  ;  they  must  now 
be  aground,  and  have  frequently  been  so  during 
the  last  three  weeks;  and  being  directly  upon 
our  line  of  drift,  are  probably  the  immediate 
cause  of  our  still  remaining  in  Melville  Bay. 
The  ice  is  slack  everywhere,  but  the  temperature 
having  fallen  to  3°,  new  ice  rapidly  forms,  so 


Sept.  1857.  PREPARING  FOR  WINTER.  49 

that  the  change  comes  too  late.  The  western 
limit  of  the  bay — Cape  York — is  very  distinct, 
and  not  more  than  25  miles  from  us. 

18th. — Lanes  of  water  in  all  directions;  but 
the  nearest  is  half  a  mile  from  us.  They  come 
too  late,*  as  do  also  the  N.  W.  winds  which  have 
now  succeeded  the  fatal  south-easter s.  The 
temperature  fell  to  2°  below  zero  last  night. 
We  are  now  at  length  in  the  "  North  Water ;" 
the  old  ice  has  spread  out  in  all  directions,  so 
that  it  is  only  the  young  ice — formed  within  the 
last  fortnight — which  detains  us  prisoners  here. 

The  icebergs,  the  chief  cause  of  our  unfor- 
tunate detention,  and  which  for  more  than  three 
weeks  were  in  advance  of  us  to  the  westward, 
are  now,  in  the  short  space  of  two  days,  nearly 
out  of  sight  to  the  eastward. 

The  preparations  for  wintering  and  sledge- 
travelling  go  on  with  unabated  alacrity ;  the 
latter  will  be  useful  should  it  become  necessary 
to  abandon  the  ship. 

Notwithstanding  such  a  withering  blight  to 
my  dearest  hopes,  yet  I  cannot  overlook  the 
many  sources  of  gratification  which  do  exist ; 
we  have  not  only  the  necessaries,  but  also  a  fair 
portion  of  the  luxuries  of  ordinary  sea-life ;  our 
provisions  and  clothing  are  abundant  and  well 
suited  to  the   climate.     Our  whole  equipment, 

E 


50  PROSPECT  FOR  WINTER.  Chap.  III. 

though  upon  so  small  a  scale,  is  perfect  in  its 
way.  We  all  enjoy  perfect  health,  and  the  men 
are  most  cheerful,  willing,  and  quiet. 

Our  "  native  auxiliaries,"  consisting  of  Chris- 
tian and  his  twenty-nine  dogs,  are  capable  of 
performing  immense  service;  whilst  Mr.  Petersen 
from  his  great  Arctic  experience  is;  of  much  use 
to  me,  besides  being  all  that  I  could  wish  as  an 
interpreter.  Humanly  speaking,  we  were  not 
unreasonable  in  confidently  looking  forward  to 
a  successful  issue  of  this  season's  operations, 
and  I  greatly  fear  that  poor  Lady  Franklin's 
disappointment  will  consequently  be  the  more 
severely  felt. 

We  are  doomed  to  pass  a  long  winter  of  abso- 
lute inutility,  if  not  of  idleness,  in  comparative 
peril  and  privation :  nevertheless  the  men  seem 
very  happy,  —  thoughtless  of  course,  as  true 
sailors  always  are. 

We  have  drifted  off  the  bank  into  much 
deeper  water,  and  suppose  this  is  the  reason 
that  seals  have  become  more  scarce. 

22nd. — Constant  N.W.  winds  continue  to  drift 
us  slowly  southward.  Strong  indications  of 
water  in  the  N.W.,  W.,  and  S.E. ;  its  vicinity 
may  account  for  a  rise  in  the  temperature,  with- 
out apparent  cause,  to  27°  at  noon  to-day. 

The  newly  formed  ice  affords  us  delightful 


Sept.  1857.  BEARS— AMUSEMENTS.  51 

walking ;  the  old  ice  on  the  contrary  is  covered 
with  a  foot  of  soft  snow.  We  have  no  shooting  ; 
scarcely  a  living  creature  has  been  seen  for  a 
week. 

2£th. — Yesterday  I  thought  I  saw  two  of  our 
men  walking  at  a  distance,  and  beyond  some 
unsafe  ice,  but  on  inquiry  found  that  all  were 
on  board :  Petersen  and  I  set  oif  to  reconnoitre 
the  strangers;  they  proved  to  be  bears,  but 
much  too  wary  to  let  us  come  within  shot.  It 
was  dark  when  we  returned  on  board  after  a 
brisk  walk  over  the  new  ice.  The  calm  air  felt 
agreeably  mild.  We  were  without  mittens  5  and 
but  that  the  breath  froze  upon  mustachios  and 
beard,  one  could  have  readily  imagined  the 
night  was  comfortably  warm.  The  thermometer 
stood  at  +  5°. 

To-day  when  walking  in  a  fresh  breeze  the 
wind  fe]t  very  cold,  and  kept  one  on  the  look- 
out for  frost-bites,  although  the  thermometer 
was  up  to  10°.  Games  upon  the  ice  and  skating 
are  our  afternoon  amusements,  but  we  also  have 
some  few  lovers  of  music,  who  embrace  the  op- 
portunity for  vigorous  execution,  without  fear  of 
being  reminded  that  others  may  have  ears  more 
sensitive  and  discriminating  than  their  own. 

26th. — The  mountain  to  the  north  of  Melville 
Bay,  known  as  the  '  Snowy  Peak,5  was  visible 

b  2 


52  DINNER  STOLEN  BY  SHAKES.         Chap,  III. 

yesterday,  although  90  miles  distant ;  I  have 
calculated  its  height  to  be  6000  feet.  A  raven 
was  shot  to-day. 

27th. — -Our  salt  meat  is  usually  soaked  for 
some  days  before  being  used ;  for  this  purpose 
it  is  put  into  a  net,  and  lowered  through  a  hole 
in  the  ice  ;  this  morning  the  net  had  been  torn, 
and  only  a  fragment  of  it  remained  !  We  sup- 
pose our  twenty-two  pounds  of  salt  meat  had 
been  devoured  by  a  shark ;  it  would  be  curious 
to  know  how  such  fare  agrees  with  him,  as  a 
full  meal  of  salted  provision  will  kill  an  Esqui- 
maux dog,  which  thrives  on  almost  anything. 
I  used  to  remonstrate  upon  the  skins  of  sea- 
birds  being  given  to  our  dogs,  but  was  told  the 
feathers  were  good  for  them  !  Here  all  sea- 
birds  are  skinned  before  being  cooked,  otherwise 
our  ducks,  divers,  and  looms  would  be  uneatably 
fishy.  A  well-baited  shark-hook  has  been  sub- 
stituted for  the  net  of  salt  meat;  I  much  wish 
to  capture  one  of  the  monsters,  as  wonderful 
stories  are  told  us  of  their  doings  in  Greenland  : 
whether  they  are  the  white  shark  or  the  bask- 
ing shark  of  natural  history  I  cannot  find  out. 
It  is  only  of  late  years  that  the  shark  fishery 
has  been  carried  on  to  any  extent  in  Greenland  ; 
they  are  captured  for  the  sake  of  their  livers, 
which  yield  a  considerable  quantity  of  oil.     It 


Sept.  1857.  THE  AECTIC  SHARK,  53 

has  very  recently  been  ascertained  that  a  valu- 
able substance  resembling  spermaceti  may  be 
expressed  from  the  carcase,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose powerful  screw  presses  are  now  employed. 
In  early  winter  the  sharks  are  caught  with  hook 
and  line*  through  holes  in  the  ice. 

The  Esquimaux  assert  that  they  are  insensible 
to  pain ;  and  Petersen  assures  me  he  has 
plunged  a  long  knife  several  times  into  the  head 
of  one  whilst  it  continued  to  feed  upon  a  white 
whale  entangled  in  his  net ! !  It  is  not  sufficient 
to  drive  them  away  with  sundry  thrusts  of 
spears  or  knives,  but  they  must  be  towed  away 
to  some  distance  from  the  nets,  otherwise  they 
will  return  to  feed.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  brain  of  a  shark  is  extremely  small  in 
proportion  to  the  size  of  its  huge  head.  I  have 
seen  bullets  fired  through  them  with  very  little 
apparent  effect ;  but  if  these  creatures  can  feel, 
the  devices  practised  upon  them  by  the  Esqui- 
maux must  be  cruel  indeed. 

It  is  only  in  certain  localities  that  sharks  are 
found,  and  in  these  places  they  are  often  at- 
tracted to  the  nets  by  the  animals  entangled  in 
them.  The  dogs  are  not  suffered  to  eat  either 
the  skin  or  the  head,  the  former  in  consequence 
of  its  extreme  roughness,  and  the  latter  because 
it  causes  giddiness  and  makes  them  sick. 


54  WHITE  WHALES,  Chap.  III. 

The  nets  alluded  to  are  set  for  the  white 
whale  or  the  seal ;  if  for  the  former,  they  are 
attached  to  the  shore  and  extend  off  at  right 
angles  so  as  to  intercept  them  in  their  autumnal 
southern  migration,  when  they  swim  close  along 
the  rocks  to  avoid  their  direst  foe,  the  grampus, 
or  killer,  of  sailors,  the  Delphinus  orca  of  natu- 
ralists. When  the  white  whale  is  stopped  by 
the  net  it  often  appears  at  first  to  be  unconscious 
of  the  fact,  and  continues  to  swim  against  it, 
affording  time  for  the  approach  of  the  boat  and 
deadly  harpoon  from  behind.  If  entangled  in 
the  net  a  very  short  time  suffices  to  drown 
them,  as,  like  all  the  whale  tribe,  they  are 
obliged  to  come  to  the  surface  to  breathe. 

The  killer  is  also  a  cetacean  of  considerable 
size,  15  to  20  feet  in  length,  but  of  very  dif- 
ferent habits ;  it  is  very  swift,  is  armed  with 
powerful  teeth,  and  is  gregarious.  When  in 
sufficient  numbers  they  even  attack  the  whale, 
impeding  his  progress  by  fastening  on  his 
fins  and  tail.  In  summer  they  appear  in  the 
Greenland  seas,  and  the  seals  instantly  seek 
refuge  from  them  in  the  various  creeks  and 
inner  harbours;  and  the  Esquimaux  hunter  in 
his  frail  kayak,  when  he  sees  the  huge  pointed 
dorsal  fin  swiftly  cleaving   the  surface  of  the 


Sept.  1857.  AND  KILLERS.  55 

sea,  is  scarcely  less  anxious  to  shun  such 
dangerous  company.  With  such  stories  as 
these  Petersen  beguiles  the  time  ;  I  never  tire 
of  listening  to  them,  and  now  amuse  myself  in 
jotting  scraps  of  them  down. 


56  FIXED  IN  THE  ICE.  Chap.  IV. 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

Snow  crystals  —  Dog  will  not  eat  raven  —  An  Arctic  school  —  The 
dogs  invade  us  —  Bear-hunting  by  night  —  Ice-artillery  —  Arctic 
palates  — ■  Sudden  rise  of  temperature  —  Harvey's  idea  of  a 
sortie. 

3rd  Oct. — September  has  passed  away  and  left 
us  as  a  legacy  to  the  pack  ;  what  a  month  have 
we  had  of  anxious  hopes  and  fears  ! 

Up  to  the  17th  S.E.  winds  prevailed,  forcing 
the  ice  into  a  compact  body,  and  urging  it 
north-westward;  subsequently  N.W.  winds  set  in, 
drifting  it  southward,  and  separating  the  floe- 
pieces  ;  but  the  change  of  wind  being  accom- 
panied by  a  considerable  fall  of  temperature, 
they  were  either  quickly  cemented  together  again 
or  young  ice  formed  over  the  newly  opened 
lanes  of  water,  almost  as  rapidly  as  the  surface 
of  the  sea  became  exposed.  During  the  month 
the  thermometer  ranged  between  +36°  and 
—  2°.  Two  more  bears  and  a  raven  have  been 
seen.  A  wearied  ptarmigan  alighted  near  the 
ship,  but  before  it  could  take  wing  again  the 
dogs  caught  it,  and  scarcely  a  feather  remained 
by  the  time  I  could  rush  on  deck. 

Our  beautiful  little  organ  was  taken  out  of 


Oct.  1857.  SNOW  CRYSTALS.  57 

its  case  to-day,  and  put  up  on  the  lower  deck  ; 
the  men  enjoy  its  pleasing  tones,  whilst  Christian 
unceasingly  turns  the  handle  in  a  state  of  in- 
tense delight ;  he  regards  it  with  such  awe  and 
admiration,  and  is  so  entranced,  that  one  cannot 
help  envying  him ;  of  course  he  never  saw  one 
before.  The  instrument  was  presented  by 
the  Prince  Consort  to  the  searching  vessel 
bearing  his  name  which  was  sent  out  by  Lady 
Franklin  in  1851  ;  it  is  now  about  to  pass 
its  third  winter  in  the  frozen  regions. 

Two  dogs  ran  off  yesterday,  in  the  vain  hope, 
I  suppose,  of  bettering  their  condition,  —  we 
only  feed  them  three  times  a  week  at  present : 
they  returned  this  morning. 

Seals  are  daily  seen  upon  the  new  ice,  but  in 
this  doubtful  sort  of  light  they  are  extremely 
timid,  therefore  our  sportsmen  cannot  get  within 
shot.  The  bears  scent  or  hear  our  dogs,  and  so 
keep  aloof;  even  the  shark  has  deserted  us,  the 
bait  remains  intact.  The  snow  crystals  of  last 
night  are  extremely  beautiful ;  the  largest  kind 
is  an  inch  in  length ;  its  form  exactly  resembles 
the  end  of  a  pointed  feather.  Stellar  crystals 
two-tenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter  have  also 
fallen ;  these  have  six  points,  and  are  the  most 
exquisite  things  when  seen  under  a  microscope. 
I  remember  noticing  them  at  Melville  Island  in 


58  MONOTONOUS  LIFE.  Chap.  IV. 

March,  1853,  when  the  temperature  rose  to  +8°; 
as  these  were  formed  last  night  between  the 
temperatures  of  +6°  and  +12°,  it  would  appear 
that  the  form  is  due  to  a  certain  fixed  tem- 
perature. In  the  sun,  or  even  in  moonlight,  all 
these  crystals  glisten  most  brilliantly;  and  as 
our  masts  and  rigging  are  abundantly  covered 
with  them,  the  '  Fox '  never  was  so  gorgeously 
arrayed  as  she  now  appears. 

ISth. — One  day  is  very  like  another;  we 
have  to  battle  stoutly  with  monotony ;  and  but 
that  each  twenty-four  hours  brings  with  it 
necessary  though  trivial  duties,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  remember  the  date.  We  take  our 
guns  and  walk  long  distances,  but  see  nothing. 
Two  of  the  dogs  go  hunting  on  their  own 
account,  sometimes  remaining  absent  all  night. 
What  they  find  or  do  is  a  mystery.  The 
weather  is  generally  calm  and  cold,  —  very 
favourable  for  freezing  purposes  at  all  events, 
— for  the  ice  of  only  three  weeks'  growth  is 
two  feet  thick. 

I  hardly  expect  any  considerable  disruption 
of  the  ice  before  the  general  break-up  in  the 
spring,  yet  we  do  not  trust  any  of  our  pro- 
visions upon  it,  nor  is  it  sufficiently  still  to  set 
up  a  magnetic  observatory,  for  which  purpose 
the  instruments  have  been  supplied  to  us. 


Oct.  1857.  "  HARNESS  JACK."  59 

Petersen  still  hopes  we  may  escape  and  get 
into  Upernivik,  as  the  sea  is  not  permanently 
frozen  oyer  there  before  December.  I  am  sur- 
prised to  hear  that  eagles  have  been  seen  so  far 
north  as  Upernivik,  although  it  is  but  twice  in 
twenty-four  years  that  specimens  have  been 
noticed  there.  In  Richardson's  i  Fauna  Boreali 
Americana '  the  extreme  northern  limit  of  these 
birds  is  given  as  66° ;  but  Upernivik  is  in  72 1°. 

A  few  bear  and  fox  tracks  have  been  seen,  but 
no  living  creatures  for  several  days,  except  a 
flock  of  ducks  hastening  southward  and  .a  soli- 
tary raven. 

It  is  said  that  Esquimaux  dogs  will  eat  every- 
thing except  fox  and  raven.  There  are  ex- 
ceptions, however ;  one  of  ours,  old  "  Harness 
Jack,"  devoured  a  raven  with  much  gusto  some 
days  ago.  All  the  other  dogs  allowed  their 
harness  to  be  taken  off  when  they  were  brought 
on  board  ;  but  old  Jack  will  not  permit  himself 
to  be  unrobed  ;  when  attempted  he  very  plainly 
threatens  to  use  his  teeth.  This  canine  oddity 
suddenly  became  immensely  popular,  by  consti- 
tuting himself  protecting  head  of  the  establish- 
ment when  one  of  his  tribe  littered  ;  he  took  up 
a  most  uncomfortable  position  on  top  of  the 
family  cask  (our  impromptu  kennel),  and  pre- 
vented the  approach  of  all  the  other  dogs  ;  but 


60        EXPERIMENTS  WITH  THE  PENDULUM.    Chap.  IV, 

for  his  timely  interference  on  behalf  of  the  poor 
little  puppies,  I  verily  believe  they  would  all 
have  been  stolen  and  devoured !  Dogs  may  do 
even  worse  than  eat  raven. 

I  have  attempted  some  experiments  for  the 
purpose  of  determining  the  mean  hourly  change 
of  oscillation  of  a  pendulum  due  to  the  earth's 
diurnal  motion;  but  as  mine  was  only  11 J  feet 
in  length,  I  failed  of  any  approach  to  accuracy. 
The  mean  of  several  observations  gave  17°  47', 
whereas  the  change  due  to  our  latitude  is  about 
14°  30'.  A  single  experiment  gave  14°  10',  and 
this  was  the  longest  in  point  of  time  of  any  of 
them,  the  pendulum  having  swung  for  thirty-six 
minutes. 

24:th. — Furious  N.W.  and  S.E.  gales  have 
alternated  of  late  ;  the  ship  is  housed  over,  to 
keep  out  the  driving  snow ;  so  high  is  the  snow 
carried  in  the  air  that  a  little  box  perforated 
with  small  holes  and  triced  up  50  feet  high  is 
soon  filled  up ;  this  box  is  supplied  morning  and 
evening  with  a  piece  of  prepared  paper  to  detect 
the  presence  and  amount  of  ozone  in  the  atmos- 
phere ;  it  is  a  peculiar  pet  of  the  Doctor's. 

At  eight  o'clock  this  evening  I  noticed  the 
falling  of  a  very  brilliant  meteor;  it  passed 
through  the  constellation  of  Cassiopceia  in  a 
N.N.E.  direction  before  terminating  its  visible 


Oct.  1857.  AN  ARCTIC  SCHOOL.  61 

existence,  which  it  did  very  much  like  a  huge 
rocket;  the  flash  was  so  brilliant  that  a  man 
whose  back  was  turned  to  it  mistook  the  illumi- 
nation for  lightning. 

26th. — Our  school  opened  this  evening,  under 
the  auspices  of  Dr.  Walker.  He  reports  eight 
or  nine  pupils,  and  is  much  gratified  by  their 
zeal.  At  present  their  studies  are  limited  to 
the  three  E,'s — reading,  'riting,  and  'rithmetic. 
They  have  asked  him  to  read  and  explain 
something  instructive,  so  he  intends  to  make 
them  acquainted  with  the  trade-winds  and  at- 
mosphere. This  subject  affords  an  opportunity 
of  explaining  the  uses  of  our  thermometer,  baro- 
meter, ozonometer,  and  electrometer,  which  they 
see  us  take  much  interest  in.  It  is  delightful  to 
find  a  spirit  of  inquiry  amongst  them.  Apart 
from  scholastic  occupation,  I  give  them  healthful 
exercise  in  spreading  a  thick  layer  of  snow  over 
the  deck,  and  encasing  the  ship  all  round  with  a 
bank  of  the  same  material. 

28th. — Midnight.  This  evening,  to  our  great 
astonishment,  there  occurred  a  disruption  and 
movement  of  the  ice  within  200  yards  of  the 
ship.  The  night  was  calm  ;  the  reflection  of  a 
bright  moon,  aided  by  the  more  than  ordinary 
brilliancy  of  the  stars  upon  the  snowy  expanse, 
made  it  appear  to  us  almost  daylight.     As  I  sit 


62  ICE  DISTURBANCE.  Chap.  IT. 

now  in  my  cabin  I  can  distinctly  hear  the  ice 
crushing  ;  it  resembles  the  continued  roar  of  dis- 
tant surf,  and  there  are  many  other  occasional 
sounds ;  some  of  them  remind  one  of  the  low 
moaning  of  the  wind,  others  are  loud  and  harsh, 
as  if  trains  of  heavy  waggons  with  ungreased 
axles  were  slowly  labouring  along.  Upon  a  less- 
favoured  night  these  sounds  might  be  appalling ; 
even  as  it  is  they  are  sufficiently  ominous  to  in- 
vite reflection.  Cape  York  has  been  in  sight  for 
some  days  past. 

2§th. — Another  heavenly  night,  and  still 
greater  ice  disturbance  ;  some  of  the  crushed-up 
pieces  are  nearly  four  feet  thick.  The  currents, 
icebergs,  and  changes  of  temperature,  may  con- 
tribute to  this  ice  action ;  but  I  think  the  tides 
are  the  chief  cause,  and  for  these  reasons  :  that 
it  wants  but  two  days  to  the  full  moon,  and 
that  the  ice-movements  are  almost  confined  to 
the  night,  and  change  their  direction  morning 
and  evening.  Now  we  know  that  the  night- 
tides  in  Greenland  greatly  exceed  the  day-tides. 
One  thing  is  evident — the  weather  continues 
calm,  therefore  the  winds  are  not  concerned  in 
the  matter. 

2nd  Nov. — Having  observed  some  days  ago 
that  a  few  of  the  dogs  were  falling  away — from 
some  cause  or  other  not  having  put  on  their 


Nov.  1857.  THE  DOGS  INVADE  US.  G3 

winter  clothing  before  the  recent  cold  weather 
set  in — they  were  all  allowed  on  board,  and 
given  a  good  extra  meal.  Since  then  we  can 
scarcely  keep  them  out.  One  calm  night  they 
made  a  charge,  and  boarded  the  ship  so  sud- 
denly that  several  of  the  men  rushed  up,  very 
scantily  clothed,  to  see  what  was  the  matter. 
Vigorous  measures  were  adopted  to  expel  the 
intruders,  and  there  was  desperate  chasing  round 
the  deck  with  broomsticks,  &c.  Many  of  them 
retreated  into  holes  and  corners,  and  two  hours 
elapsed  before  they  were  all  driven  out;  but 
though  the  chase  was  hot,  it  was  cold  enough 
work  for  the  half-clad  men. 

Sailors  use  quaint  expressions.  The  nightly 
foraging  expeditions  are  called  "  sorties  ;"  they 
point  out  to  me  the  various  corners  between 
decks  where  the  "ice  corrodes,"  i.e.  the  moisture 
condenses  and  forms  frost ;  a  ramble  over  the 
ice  is  called  "  a  bit  of  a  peruse."  I  presume 
this  indignity  is  offered  to  the  word  perambu- 
lation. 

There  was  a  very  sudden  call  "  to  arms  "  to- 
night. Whether  sleeping,  prosing,  or  schooling, 
every  one  flew  out  upon  the  ice  on  the  instant, 
as  if  the  magazine  or  the  boiler  was  on  the  point 
of  explosion.  The  alarm  of  "  A  bear  close-to, 
fighting  with  the  dogs,"  was  the  cause.     The 


64  BEAK-HUNTING  BY  NIGHT.  Chap.  IV. 

luckless  beast  had  approached  within  25  yards 
of  the  ship  ere  the  quartermaster's  eye  detected 
his  indistinct  outline  against  the  snow ;  so 
silently  had  he  crept  up  that  he  was  within  10 
yards  of  some  of  the  dogs.  A  shout  started  them 
up,  and  they  at  once  flew  round  the  bear  and 
embarrassed  his  retreat.  In  crossing  some  very 
thin  ice  he  broke  through,  and  there  I  found 
him  surrounded  by  yelping  dogs.  Poor  fellow ! 
Hobson,  Young,  and  Petersen  had  each  lodged 
a  bullet  in  him ;  but  these  only  seemed  to  in- 
crease his  rage.  He  succeeded  in  getting  out  of 
the  water,  when,  fearing  harm  to  the  numerous 
bystanders  and  dogs,  or  that  he  might  escape, 
I  fired,  and  luckily  the  bullet  passed  through 
his  brain.  He  proved  to  be  a  full-grown  male, 
7  feet  3  inches  in  length.  As  we  all  aided  in 
the  capture,  it  was  decided  that  the  skin  should 
be  offered  to  Lady  Franklin. 

The  carcase  will  feed  our  dogs  for  nearly  a 
month;  they  were  rewarded  on  the  spot  with 
the  offal.  All  of  them,  however,  had  not  shown 
equal  pluck  ;  some  ran  off  in  evident  fright,  but 
others  showed  no  symptom  of  fear,  plunging  or 
falling  into  the  water  with  Bruin.  Poor  old 
Sophy  was  amongst  the  latter,  and  received  a 
deep  cut  in  the  shoulder  from  one  of  his  claws. 
The  authorities  have  prescribed  double  allow- 


Nov.  1857.  THE  SUN'S  LAST  VISIT.  65 

ance  of  food  for  her,  and  say  she  will  soon  re- 
cover. 

For  the  few  moments  of  its  duration  the  chase 
and  death  was  exciting.  And  how  strange  and 
novel  the  scene  !  A  misty  moon  affording  but 
scanty  light — dark  figures  gliding  singly  about, 
not  daring  to  approach  each  other,  for  the  ice 
trembled  under  their  feet — the  enraged  bear, 
the  wolfish  howling  dogs,  and  the  bright  flashes 
of  the  deadly  rifles. 

3rd. — I  remained  up  the  greater  part  of  last 
night  talking  observations,  for  the  evening  mists 
had  passed  away,  and  a  lovely  moon  reigned 
over  a  calm  enchanting  night ;  through  a  power- 
ful telescope  she  resembled  a  huge  frosted-silver 
melon,  the  large  crater-like  depression  answer- 
ing to  that  part  from  which  the  footstalk  had 
been  detached.  Not  a  sound  to  break  the  still- 
ness around,  excepting  when  some  hungry  dog 
would  return  to  the  late  battlefield  to  gnaw  into 
the  bloodstained  ice. 

On  the  1st  the  sun  paid  us  his  last  visit  for 
the  year,  and  now  we  take  all  our  meals  by 
lamplight. 

6th. — In  order  to  vary  our  monotonous  routine, 
we  determined  to  celebrate  the  day  ;  extra  grog 
was  issued  to  the  crew,  and  also  for  the  first  time 
a  proportion  of  preserved  plum-pudding.     Lady 


66  GUY  FAWKES'  DAY.  Chap.  IV. 

Franklin  most  thoughtfully  and  kindly  sent  it 
on  board  for  occasional  use.     It  is  excellent. 

This  evening  a  well-got-up  procession  sallied 
forth,  marched  round  the  ship  with  drum,  gong, 
and  discord,  and  then  proceeded  to  burn  the 
effigy  of  Guy  Fawkes.  Their  blackened  faces, 
extravagant  costumes,  flaring  torches,  and 
savage  yells,  frightened  away  all  the  dogs ;  nor 
was  it  until  after  the  fireworks  were  set  off  and 
the  traitor  consumed  that  they  crept  back  again. 
It  was  school-night,  but  the  men  were  up  for 
fun,  so  gave  the  Doctor  a  holiday. 

12th. — Yesterday  I  had  the  good  fortune  to 
shoot  two  seals ;  they  were  very  fat,  and  their 
stomachs  were  filled  with  shrimps.  To-day 
Young  and  Petersen  shot  three  more,  and  many 
others  have  been  seen.  This  is  cheering,  and 
entices  people  out  for  hours  daily.  There  is  just 
enough  movement  in  the  ice  to  keep  a  few  nar- 
row lanes  and  small  pools  of  water  open ;  the 
floes  or  fields  of  ice  are  more  inclined  to  spread 
out  from  each  other  than  to  close.  We  have 
latterly  been  drifting  before  northerly  winds. 

16^. — A  renewal  of  ice-crushing  within  a  few 
hundred  yards  of  us.  I  can  hear  it  in  my  bed. 
The  ordinary  sound  resembles  the  roar  of  distant 
surf  breaking  heavily  and  continuously ;  but 
when  heavy  masses  come  in  collision  with  much 


Nov.  1857.  ICE-AETILLEEY.  67 

impetus,  it  fully  realizes  the  justness  of  Dr. 
Kane's  descriptive  epithet,  "  ice-artillery."  For- 
tunately for  us,  our  poor  little  '  Fox '  is  well 
within  the  margin  of  a  stout  old  floe  :  we  are 
therefore  undisturbed  spectators  of  ice-conflicts, 
which "  would  be  irresistible  to  anything  of 
human  construction.  Immediately  about  the 
ship  all  is  still,  and,  as  far  as  appearances  go, 
she  is  precisely  as  she  would  be  in  a  secure 
harbour — housed  all  over,  banked  up  with  snow 
to  her  gunwales.  In  fact,  her  winter  plumage 
is  so  complete  that  the  masts  alone  are  visible. 
The  deck  and  the  now  useless  skylights  are 
covered  with  hard  snow.  Below  hatches  we  are 
warm  and  dry ;  all  are  in  excellent  health  and 
spirits,  looking  forward  to  an  active  campaign 
next  winter.    Grod  grant  it  may  be  realized  ! 

Yesterday  Young  shot  the  fiftieth  seal,  an 
event  duly  celebrated  by  our  drinking  the  bottle 
of  champagne  which  had  been  set  apart  in  more 
hopeful  times  to  be  drunk  on  reaching  the  North 
Water — that  unhappy  failure,  the  more  keenly 
felt  from  being  so  very  unexpected. 

Petersen  saw  and  fired  a  shot  into  a  narwhal, 
which  brought  the  blubber  out.  When  most 
Arctic  creatures  are  wounded  in  the  water, 
blubber  more  frequently  than  blood  appears, 
particularly    if   the    wound    is    superficial — -it 

f  2 


68  AECTIC  PALATES.  Chap.  IV. 

spreads  over  the  surface  of  the  water  like  oil. 
Bills  of  fare  vary  much,  even  in  Greenland. 
I  have  inquired  of  Petersen,  and  he  tells  me 
that  the  Greenland  Esquimaux  (there  are  many 
Greenlanders  of  Danish  origin)  are  not  agreed 
as  to  which  of  their  animals  affords  the  most 
delicious  food ;  some  of  them  prefer  reindeer 
venison,  others  think  more  favourably  of  young 
dog,  the  flesh  of  which,  he  asserts,  is  "just  like 
the  beef  of  sheep."  He  says  a  Danish  captain, 
who  had  acquired  the  taste,  provided  some  for 
his  guests,  and  they  praised  his  mutton !  after 
dinner  he  sent  for  the  skin  of  the  animal,  which 
was  no  other  than  a  large  red  dog !  This 
occurred  in  Greenland,  where  his  Danish  guests 
had  resided  for  many  years,  far  removed  from 
European  mutton.  Baked  puppy  is  a  real  deli- 
cacy all  over  Polynesia :  at  the  Sandwich 
Islands  I  was  once  invited  to  a  feast,  and  had 
to  feign  disappointment  as  well  as  I  could  when 
told  that  puppy  was  so  extremely  scarce  it  could 
not  be  procured  in  time,  and  therefore  sucking- 
pig  was  substituted ! 

19  th. — A  heavy  southerly  gale  has  increased 
the  ice  movements  ;  happily  we  are  undisturbed. 
As  Young  was  seated  under  the  lee  of  a  hum- 
mock, watching  for  seals  to  pop  up  to  breathe, 
the  strong  ice  under  him  suddenly  cracked  and 


Nov.  1857.  A  LUCKY  DOG.  69 

separated!  He  escaped  with  a  ducking,  and 
was  just  able  to  reach  his  gun  from  the  bank 
ere  it  sank  through  the  mixture  of  snow  and 
water. 

Yesterday  we  were  all  out ;  I  saw  only  one 
seal,  but  was  refreshed  by  the  sight  of  a  dozen 
narwhals.  It  is  a  positive  treat  to  see  a  living 
creature  of  any  kind.  The  only  birds  which 
remain  are  dovekies,  but  they  are  scarce,  and, 
being  white,  are  very  rarely  visible. 

The  dogs  are  fed  every  second  day,  when 
2  lbs.  of  seal's  flesh — previously  thawed  when 
possible — is  given  to  each ;  the  weaker  ones 
get  additional  food,  and  they  all  pick  up  what- 
ever scraps  are  thrown  out ;.  this  is  enough  to 
sustain,  but  not  to  satisfy  them,  so  they  are 
continually  on  the  look-out  for  anything  eatable. 
Hobson  made  one  very  happy  without  intending 
it ;  he  meant  only  to  give  him  a  kick,  but  his 
slipper,  being  down  at  heel,  flew  off,  and  away 
went  the  lucky  dog  in  triumph  with  the  prize, 
which  of  course  was  no  more  seen. 

Two  large  icebergs  drift  in  company  with 
us ;  our  relative  positions  have  remained  pretty 
nearly  the  same  for  the  last  month. 

23rd. — A  heavy  gale  commenced  at  N.E.  on 
the  21st,  and  continued  for  thirty-six  hours 
unabated   in    force,   but    changed   in   direction 


70  SUDDEN  RISE  OF  TEMPERATURE.    Chap.  IV. 

to  S.S.W.  It  appears  to  have  been  a  revolving 
storm,  moving  to  the  N.W.  Yesterday,  as  the 
wind  approached  S.Br,  the  temperature  rose  to 
+  32°;  the  upper  deck  sloppy;  the  lower  deck 
temperature  during  Divine  Service  was  75° !  ! 
As  the  wind  veered  round  to  the  S.S.W.,  the 
wind  moderated,  and  temperature  fell ;  this 
evening  it  is  —  7°.  How  is  it  that  the  S.E. 
wind  has  brought  us  such  a  very  high  tempe- 
rature ?  Even  if  it  traversed  an  unfrozen  sea  it 
could  not  have  derived  from  thence  a  higher 
temperature  than  29°.  Has  it  swept  across 
Greenland  —  that  vast  superficies  partly  en- 
veloped in  glacier,  partly  in  snow  ?  No,  it 
must  have  been  borne  in  the  higher  regions  of 
the  atmosphere  from  the  far  south,  in  order  to 
mitigate  the  severity  of  this  northern  climate. 

Petersen  tells  me  the  same  warm  S.E.  wind 
suddenly  sweeps  over  Upernivik  in  midwinter, 
bringing  with  it  abundance  of  rain  ;  and  that  it 
always  shifts  to  the  S.W.,  and  then  the  tempera- 
ture rapidly  falls :  this  is  precisely  the  change 
we  have  experienced  in  lat.  75°.  I  believe  a 
somewhat  similar,  but  less  remarkable,  change 
of  temperature  was  noticed  in  Smith's  Sound, 
lat.  78|°  N. 

25th. — Mild,  "  Madeira  weather,"  as  Hobson 
calls  it,  temperature  up  to  +  7°.     By  my  desire 


ok^ 


■  ::■■■■■". 


Sllffiiiffl 


MOONLIGHT   IN   THE   ARCTIC   REGIONS. 
Drawn  by  Captain  May. 


Kov.  1857.        FREEZING  OF  SALT  WATER.  71 

Dr.  Walker  is  occupied  in  making  every  pos- 
sible experiment  upon  the  freezing  of  salt  water ; 
the  first  crop  of  ice  is  salt,  the  second  less  so, 
the  third  produces  drinkable  water,  and  the 
fourth  is  fresh.  Frosty  efflorescence  appears 
upon  ice  formed  at  low  temperatures  in  calm 
weather — it  is  brine  expressed  by  the  act  of 
freezing.  We  need  not  wonder  that  dogs,  when 
driven  hard  over  this  ice,  which  soon  cuts  their 
feet,  suffer  intense  pain,  and  often  fall  down  in 
fits;  nor  that  snow,  falling  upon  young  (sea) 
ice,  wholly  or  partially  thaws,  even  when  the 
temperature  is  but  little  above  zero  ;  when  near 
the  freezing-point  the  young  ice  thus  coated 
over  becomes  sludgy  and  unsafe. 

2Wi. — Keen,  biting,  N.W.  winds.  No  cracks 
in  the  ice,  therefore  no  seals.  Grey  dawn  at 
ten  o'clock,  and  dark  at  two.  The  moon  is 
everywhere  the  sailor's  friend,  she  is  a  source  of 
comfort  to  us  here.  Nothing  to  excite  conver- 
sation, except  an  occasional  inroad  of  the  dogs 
in  search  of  food  ;  this  generally  occurs  at 
night.  Whenever  the  deck-light  which  burns 
under  the  housing  happens  to  go  out,  they  scale 
the  steep  snow  banking,  and  rush  round  the 
deck  like  wolves.  "  Why,  bless  you,  Sir,  the 
wery  moment  that  there  light  goes  out,  and  the 
quartermaster    turns   his   back,   they   makes   a 


72  THE  DOGS'  SORTEE.  Chap.  IV. 

regular  sorte,  and  in  they  all  comes."  "But 
where  do  they  come  in,  Harvey?"  "Where, 
Sir  ?  why  everywheres ;  they  makes  no  more  to 
do,  but  in  they  comes,  clean  over  all."  Not 
long  ago  old  Harvey  was  chief  quartermaster  in 
a  line-of-battle  ship,  and  a  regular  magnet  to  all 
the  younger  midshipmen.  He  would  spin  them 
yarns  by  the  hour  during  the  night-watches 
about  the  wonders  of  the  sea,  and  of  the  Arctic 
regions  in  particular — its  bears,  its  icebergs,  and 
still  more  terrific  "  auroras,  roaring  and  flashing 
about  the  ship  enough  to  frighten  a  fellow  "  ! 

30th. — Severe  cold  has  arrived  with  the  full 
moon  ;  eight  days  ago  the  thermometer  stood  at 
the  freezing-point,  it  is  now  64°  below  it !  So 
dark  is  it  now  that  I  was  able  to  observe  an 
eclipse  of  Jupiter's  first  satellite  before  three 
o'clock  to-day.  For  the  last  two  months  we 
have  drifted  freely  backwards  and  forwards 
before  N.W.  and  S.E.  winds  ;  each  time  we  have 
gained  a  more  off-shore  position,  being  gradually 
separated  further  and  further  from  the  land  by 
fresh  growths  of  ice,  which  invariably  follow  up 
every  ice-movement.  In  this  manner  we  have 
been  thrust  out  to  the  S.W.  80  miles  from  the 
nearest  land,  and  into  that  free  space  which  in 
autumn  was  open  water,  and  which  we  then 
vainly  struggled  to  reach. 


Nov.  1857.  PROXIMITY  OF  OPEN  SEA.  73 

That  the  ice  has  been  most  free  to  move  in 
this  direction  is  additional  evidence  of  the  recent 
proximity  of  an  open  sea,  and  shows  that  in  all 
probability — I  had  almost  said  certainty — we 
should  have  sailed,  or  at  least  drifted  into  it, 
had  it  not  been  for  those  enemies  to  all  pro- 
gress, the  grounded  bergs. 


74  BUBIAL  IN  THE  PACK.  Chap.  V. 


CHAPTEE  V. 

Burial  in  the  pack —  Musk  oxen  in  lat.  80°  north  —  Thrift  of  the 
Arctic  fox  —  The  aurora  affects  the  electrometer  —  An  Arctic 
Christmas  —  Sufferings  of  Dr.  Kane's  deserters  —  Ice  acted  on  by 
wind  only  —  How  the  sun  ought  to  be  welcomed  —  Constant 
action  of  the  ice  —  Beturn  of  the  seals  —  Bevolving  storm. 

Ath  Dec. — I  have  just  returned  on  board  from 
the  performance  of  the  most  solemn  duty  a 
commander  can  be  called  upon  .to  fulfil.  A 
funeral  at  sea  is  always  peculiarly  impressive ; 
but  this  evening  at  seven  o'clock,  as  we  gathered 
around  the  sad  remains  of  poor  Scott,  reposing 
under  an  Union  Jack,  and  read  the  Burial  Ser- 
vice by  the  light  of  lanterns,  the  effect  could 
not  fail  to  awaken  very  serious  emotions. 

The  greater  part  of  the  Church  Service  was 
read  on  board,  under  shelter  of  the  housing; 
the  body  was  then  placed  upon  a  sledge,  and 
drawn  by  the  messmates  of  the  deceased  to 
a  short  distance  from  the  ship,  where  a  hole 
through  the  ice  had  been  cut :  it  was  then 
"  committed  to  the  deep,"  and  the  Service  com- 
pleted. "What  a  scene  it  was !  I  shall  never 
forget  it.  The  lonely  'Fox,'  almost  buried 
in  snow,  completely  isolated  from  the  habitable 


Dec.  1857.  BURIAL  IN  THE  PACK.  75 

world,  her  colours  half-mast  high,  and  bell 
mournfully  tolling  ;  our  little  procession  slowly 
marching  over  the  rough  surface  of  the  frozen 
sea,  guided  by  lanterns-  and  direction-posts, 
amid  the  dark  and  dreary  depth  of  Arctic 
winter*;  the  death-like  stillness,  the  intense  cold, 
and  threatening  aspect  of  a  murky,  overcast  sky  ; 
and  all  this  heightened  by  one  of  those  strange 
lunar  phenomena  which  are  but  seldom  seen 
even  here,  a  complete  halo  encircling  the  moon, 
through  which  passed  a  horizontal  band  of  pale 
light  that  encompassed  the  heavens ;  above  the 
moon  appeared  the  segments  of  two  other  halos, 
and  there  were  also  mock  moons  or  paraselene 
to  the  number  of  six.  The  misty  atmosphere 
lent  a  very  ghastly  hue  to  this  singular  display, 
which  lasted  for  rather  more  than  an  hour. 

Poor  Scott  fell  down  a  hatchway  two  days 
only  before  his  death,  which  was  occasioned 
by  the  internal  injuries  then  received ;  he  was 
a  steady  serious  man ;  a  widow  and  family  will 
mourn  his  loss.  He  was  our  engine-driver ;  we 
cannot  replace  him,  therefore  the  whole  duty  of 
working  the  engines  will  devolve  upon  the 
engineer,  Mr.  Brand. 

11th. — Calm,  clear  weather,  pleasant  for  exer- 
cise, but  steadily  cold ;  thermometer  varies  be- 
tween -  20°   and  -  30°.      At   noon   the   blush 


76  MUSK  OXEN  IN  LAT.  80°  X.  Chap.  V. 

of  dawn  tints  the  southern  horizon,  to  the  north 
the  sky  remains  inky  blue,  "whilst  overhead  it  is 
bright  and  clear,  the  stars  shining,  and  the  pole- 
star  near  the  zenith  very  distinct.  Although 
there  is  a  light  north  wind,  thin  mackerel-clouds 
are  passing  from  south  to  north,  and  the  tem- 
perature has  risen  10°. 

I  have  been  questioning  Petersen  about  the 
bones  of  the  musk  oxen  found  in  Smith's 
Sound ;  he  says  the  decayed  skulls  of  about 
twenty  were  found,  all  of  them  to  the  north  of 
the  79th  parallel.  As  they  were  all  without 
lower  jaws,  he  says  they  were  killed  by  Esqui- 
maux, who  leave  upon  the  spot  the  skulls 
of  large  animals,  but  the  weight  of  the  lower 
jaw  being  so  trifling  it  is  allowed  to  remain 
attached  to  the  flesh  and  tongue.  The  skull 
of  a  musk  ox  with  its  massive  horns  cannot 
weigh  less  than  30  lbs. 

Although  it  has  been  abundantly  proved  by 
the  existence  of  raised  beaches  and  fossils,  that 
the  shores  of  Smith's  Sound  have  been  elevated 
within  a  comparatively  recent  geological  period, 
yet  Petersen  tells  me  that  there  exist  numerous 
ruins  of  Esquimaux  buildings,  probably  one  or 
two  centuries  old,  all  of  which  are  situated  upon 
very  low  points,  only  just  sufficiently  raised 
above  the  reach  of  the  sea ;  such  sites,  in  fact, 


Dec.  1857.        THRIFT  OF  THE  ARCTIC  FOX.  77 

as  would  at  present  be  selected  by  the  natives. 
These  ruins  show  that  no  perceptible  change 
has  taken  place  in  the  relative  level  of  sea  and 
land  since  they  were  originally  constructed. 
At  Petersen's  Greenland  home,  Upernivik,  the 
land  has  sunk,  as  is  plainly  shown  by  similar 
ruins  over  which  the  tides  now  flow. 

Anything  which  illustrates  the  habits  of 
animals  in  such  extremely  high  latitudes  I 
think  is  most  interesting;  their  instincts  must 
be  quickened  in  proportion  as  the  difficulty 
of  subsisting  increases.  Foxes,  white  and  blue, 
are  very  numerous ;  all  the  birds  are  merely 
summer  visitors,  therefore  the  hare  is  the  only 
creature  remaining  upon  which  foxes  can  prey ; 
but  the  hares  are  comparatively  scarce,  how  then 
do  the  foxes  live  for  eight  months  of  each  year  ? 
Petersen  thinks  they  store  up  provisions  during 
the  summer  in  various  holes  and  crevices,  and 
thus  manage  to  eke  out  an  existence  during  the 
dark  winter's  season ;  he  once  saw  a  fox  carry 
off  eggs  in  his  mouth  from  an  eider-duck's  nest, 
one  at  a  time,  until  the  whole  were  removed ; 
and  in  winter  he  has  observed  a  fox  scratch 
a  hole  down  through  very  deep  snow,  to  a  cache 
of  eggs  beneath. 

The  men  are  exercised  at  building  snow 
huts ;  for  winter  or  early  spring  travelling,  this 


78  SNOW  HUTS.  Chap.  V. 

knowledge  is  almost  indispensable.  Upon  a 
calm  day  the  temperature  of  the  external  air 
being  —  33°,  within  a  snow  hut  the  thermometer 
stood  17°  higher,  this  important  difference  being 
due  to  the  transmission  of  heat  through  the  ice 
from  the  sea  beneath. 

Evaporation  goes  on  through  ice  from  the 
water  underneath  it.  The  interior  of  each  snow 
hut  is  coated  with  crystals,  and  the  ice  upon 
which  the  huts  are  built  is  four  feet  thick,  but 
when  no  longer  in  contact  with  water  I  cannot 
discover  any  evaporation  from  ice.  For  in- 
stance, a  canvas  screen  on  deck  which  be- 
came wet  by  the  sudden  thaw  last  month  still 
remains  frozen  stiff. 

YAth. — Of  late  there  has  been  much  damp 
upon  the  lower  deck.  This  has  now  been  re- 
medied by  enclosing  the  hatchway  within  a 
commodious  snow-porch,  which  serves  as  a  con- 
denser for  the  steam  and  vapour  from  the  in- 
habited deck  below. 

19^A. — Light  N.W.  winds,  with  occasional 
mists  ;  the  temperature  is  comparatively  mild : 
-12°  to  -25°. 

It  is  now  the  time  of  spring-tides ;  they 
cause  numerous  cracks  in  the  ice,  but  why  so, 
at  such  a  great  distance  from  the  land,  I  cannot 
explain.     The  three  nearest  points  of  land  are 


Dec.  1857.  THE  AUROKA.  79 

respectively  110,   140,  and    180   miles   distant 
from  ns. 

Much  aurora  during  the  last  two  days.  Yes- 
terday morning  it  was  visible  until  eclipsed  by 
the  day-dawn  at  10  o'clock.  Although  we  could 
no  longer  see  it,  I  do  not  think  it  ceased ;  very 
thin  clouds  occupied  its  place,  through  which, 
as  through  the  aurora,  stars  appeared  scarcely 
dimmed  in  lustre.  I  do  not  imagine  that  aurora 
is  ever  visible  in  a  perfectly  clear  atmosphere. 
I  often  observe  it  just  silvering  or  rendering 
luminous  the  upper  edge  of  low  fog  or  cloud 
banks,  and  with  a  few  vertical  rays  feebly 
vibrating. 

Last  evening  Dr.  Walker  called  me  to  witness 
his  success  with  the  electrometer.  The  electric 
current  was  so  very  weak  that  the  gold-leaves 
diverged  at  regular  intervals  of  four  or  five 
seconds.  Some  hours  afterwards  it  was  strong 
enough  to  keep  them  diverged. 

21st, — Mid- winter  day.  Out  of  the  Arctic 
regions  it  is  better  known  as  the  shortest  day. 
At  noon  we  could  just  read  type  similar  to  the 
leading  article  of  the  •  Times.'  Few  people  could 
read  more  than  two  or  three  lines  without  their 
eyes  aching. 

27th. — Our  Christmas  was  a  very  cheerful 
merry  one.     The  men  were  supplied  with  seve- 


80  AN  AKCTIC  CHRISTMAS.  Chap.  V. 

ral  additional  articles,  such  as  hams,  plum-pud- 
dings, preserved  gooseberries  and  apples,  nuts, 
sweetmeats,  and  Burton  ale.  After  Divine  Ser- 
vice they  decorated  the  lower  deck  with  flags, 
and  made  an  immense  display  of  food.  The 
officers  came  down  with  me  to  see  their  pre- 
parations. We  were  really  astonished  !  Their 
mess-tables  were  laid  out  like  the  counters  in  a 
confectioner's  shop,  with  apple  and  gooseberry 
tarts,  plum  and  sponge-cakes  in  pyramids,  be- 
sides various  other  unknown  puffs,  cakes,  and 
loaves  of  all  sizes  and  shapes.  We  bake  all  our 
own  bread,  and  excellent  it  is.  In  the  back- 
ground were  nicely-browned  hams,  meat-pies, 
cheeses,  and  other  substantial  articles.  Eum 
and  water  in  wine-glasses  and  plum-cake  was 
handed  to  us  :  we  wished  them  a  happy  Christ- 
mas, and  complimented  them  on  their  taste  and 
spirit  in  getting  up  such  a  display.  Our  silken 
sledge-banners  had  been  borrowed  for  the  occa- 
sion, and  were  regarded  with  deference  and 
peculiar  pride. 

In  the  evening  the  officers  were  enticed  down 
amongst  the  men  again,  and  at  a  late  hour  I  was 
requested,  as  a  great  favour,  to  come  down  and 
see  how  much  they  were  enjoying  themselves. 
I  found  them  in  the  highest  good  humour  with 
themselves  and  all  the  world.     They  were  per- 


Dec.  1857.  AN  ARCTIC  CHEISTMAS.  81 

fectly  sober,  and  singing  songs,  each  in  his 
turn.  I  expressed  great  satisfaction  at  having 
seen  them  enjoying  themselves  so  much  and  so 
rationally,  T  could  therefore  the  better  describe 
it  to  Lady  Franklin,  who  was  so  deeply  inte- 
rested in  everything  relating  to  them.  I  drank 
their  healths,  and  hoped  our  position  next  year 
would  be  more  suitable  for  our  purpose.  We  all 
joined  in  drinking  the  healths  of  Lady  Franklin 
and  Miss  Cracroft,  and  amid  the  acclamations 
which  followed  I  returned  to  my  cabin,  im- 
mensely gratified  by  such  an  exhibition  of 
genuine  good  feeling,  such  veneration  for  Lady 
Franklin,  and  such  loyalty  to  the  cause  of  the 
expedition.  It  was  very  pleasant  also  that  they 
had  taken  the  most  cheering  view  of  our  future 
prospects.  I  verily  believe  I  was  the  happiest 
individual  on  board  that  happy  evening. 

Our  Christmas-box  has  come  in  the  shape  of 
northerly  winds,  which  bid  fair  to  drift  us 
southward  towards  those  latitudes  wherein  we 
hope  for  liberation  next  spring  from  this  icy 
bondage. 

2Sth, — We  have  been  in  expectation  of  a  gale 
all  day.  This  evening  there  is  still  a  doubtful 
sort  of  truce  amongst  the  elements.  Barometer 
down  to  28*83  ;  thermometer  up  to  +  5°,  although 
the  wind  has  been  strong  and  steady  from  the 

a 


82  NEW  YEAR'S  DAY.  .  Chap.  V. 

N.  for  twenty-four  hours,  low  scud  flying  from 
the  E.,  snow  constantly  falling.  An  hour  ago 
the  wind  suddenly  changed  to  S.S.E. ;  the  snow- 
ing has  ceased ;  thermometer  falls  and  baro- 
meter rises. 

2nd  Jan.  1858.  — New  Years  day  was  a 
second  edition  of  Christmas,  and  quite  as  plea- 
santly spent.  We  dwelt  much  upon  the  antici- 
pations of  the  future,  being  a  more  agreeable 
theme  than  the  failure  of  the  past.  I  confess  to 
a  hearty  welcome  for  the  new  year — anxious,  of 
course,  that  we  may  escape  uninjured,  and 
sufficiently  early  to  pursue  the  object  of  our 
voyage. 

Exactly  at  midnight  on  the  31st  December 
the  arrival  of  the  new  year  was  announced  to 
me  by  our  band — two  flutes  and  an  accordion — 
striking  up  at  my  door.  There  was  also  a  pro- 
cession, or  perhaps  I  should  say  a  continuation 
of  the  band ;  these  performers  were  grotesquely 
attired,  and  armed  with  frying-pans,  gridirons, 
kettles,  pots,  and  pans,  with  which  to  join  in 
and  add  to  the  effect  of  the  other  music ! 

We  have  a  very  level  hard  walk  alongside 
the  ship ;  it  is  narrowed  to  two  or  three  yards 
in  width  by  a  snow-bank  four  feet  high.  In 
the  face  of  this  bank  some  twenty-five  holes 
have  been  excavated  for  the  dogs,  and  in  them 


Jan.  1858.  SUFFERINGS  OF  DR.  KANE'S  DESERTERS.     83 

they  spend  most  of  their  time.  It  looks  very 
formidable  in  the  moonlight,  being  a  good  imi- 
tation of  a  casemated  battery. 

After  our  rubber  of  whist  on  New  Year's 
night  Petersen  related  to  us  some  of  his  dread- 
ful sufferings  when  with  the  party  of  deserters 
from  Dr.  Kane.  They  spent  the  months  of 
October  and  November  in  Booth  Sound,  lat. 
77°;  all  that  time  upon  the  verge  of  starva- 
tion, unable  to  advance  or  retreat.  For  these 
two  months  they  had  no  other  fuel  than  their 
small  cedar  boat,  the  smoke  of  which  was  not 
endurable  in  their  wretched  hut,  and  without 
light,  for  the  sun  left  them  in  October,  unless 
we  except  one  inch  and  a  half  of  taper  daily, 
which  they  made  out  of  a  lump  of  bees'-wax 
that  accidentally  found  its  way  into  their  boat 
before  leaving  the  ship.  In  December  they  re- 
gained their  vessel.  I  am  surprised  that  no 
account  of  the  extreme  hardships  of  this  party 
— so  far  exceeding  that  of  their  shipmates  on 
board — has  ever  appeared ;  and  I  regret  it,  as  I 
believe  they  owed  their  lives  to  the  experience 
and  fidelity  of  their  interpreter  Petersen.  At 
first  the  Esquimaux  assisted  them ;  latterly  they 
were  quite  unable  to  do  so,  and  became  anxious 
to  get  rid  of  their  visitors.  Observing  how 
weakened  they  had  become,  the  Esquimaux  en- 

g  2 


84  ICE  ACTED  ON  BY  WIND  ONLY.        Chap.  V. 

deavoured  to  separate  them  from  their  guns  and 
from  each  other,  and  even  used  threatening 
language. 

During  December  we  drifted  67  miles,  di- 
rectly down  Baffin's  Bay  towards  the  Atlantic, 
and  are  now  in  lat.  74°.  Although  it  is  quite 
impossible  to  discriminate  between  the  several 
influences  which  probably  govern  our  move- 
ments, or  to  ascertain  how  much  is  due  to  each 
of  them — such  as  the  relative  positions  of  ice, 
land,  and  open  water,  winds,  currents,  and 
earth's  rotation— yet  it  appears  in  the  present 
instance  that  the  wind  is  almost  the  sole  agent 
in  hastening  this  vast  continent  of  ice  towards 
the  latitudes  of  its  dissolution.  We  move  before 
the  wind  in  proportion  to  its  strength  :  we  re- 
main stationary  in  calm  weather.  Neither  sur- 
face nor  submarine  current  has  been  detected ; 
the  large  icebergs  obey  the  same  influences  as 
the  surface  ice.  We  have  noticed  a  slight  set 
to  the  westward— it  is  not  likely  to  be  produced 
by  current,  and  may  be  the  result  of  the  earth's 
motion  from  west  to  east. 

6th. — Many  lanes  of  water.  A  seal  has  been 
seen,  the  only  one  for  six  weeks.  Of  the  old 
ice  which  so  closely  hemmed  us  in  up  to  the 
middle  of  September,  there  is  hardly  any  within 
several  miles  of  us  except  the  large  floe-piece 


Jan.  1858.  KETUKN"  OF  THE  SUN.  85 

we  are  frozen  to.  Every  crack  or  lane  which 
opens  is  quickly  covered  with  young  ice,  so 
that  it  cannot  close  again ;  and  in  this  manner 
the  old  ice  has  been  spread  out.  I  rejoice  in  its 
dispersion  ! 

To-clay  I  put  a  tumblerful  of  our  strong  ale 
(Allsopp's)  on  deck  to  freeze  :  this  was  soon 
effected,  the  temperature  being  —  35°.  After 
bringing  it  below,  and  when  its  temperature 
had  risen  to  17°,  it  was  almost  all  thawed— at 
22°  it  was  completely  so  :  it  looked  muddy,  but 
settled  after  standing  for  a  couple  of  hours, 
when  I  drank  it  off,  in  every  way  satisfied 
with  my  experiment  and  my  beer  :  it  seemed 
none  the  worse  for  its  freezing,  but  rather  flat 
from  its  long  exposure  in  a  tumbler. 

1*1  th. — Northerly  winds  blow  almost  con- 
stantly. We  have  drifted  60  miles  since  the 
1st,  and  are  only  115  miles  from  Upernivik, 
— once  more  upon  confines  of  the  habitable 
world !  good  light  for  three  hours  daily  ;  all 
this  is  cheering.  We  continue  our  snow-hut 
practice,  and  can  build  one  in  three-quarters 
of  an  hour. 

2Sth. — The  upper  edge  of  the  sun  appeared 
above  the  horizon  to-day,  after  an  absence  of 
eighty-nine  days ;  it  was  a  gladdening  sight. 
I  sent  for  the  ship's  steward  and  asked  what 


86  THE  SICK-LIST.  Chap.  V. 

was  the  custom  on  such  occasions  ?  "To  hoist 
the  colours  and  serve  out  an  extra  half-gill, 
sir,"  was  the  ready  reply :  accordingly,  the 
Harwich  lion  soon  fluttered  in  a  breeze  cool 
enough  to  stiffen  the  limbs  of  ordinary  lions,  and 
in  the  evening  the  grog  was  issued. 

30th. — Our  messmate  Pussy  is  unwell,  and 
won't  eat ;  in  vain  has  Hobson  tempted  her  with 
raw  seal's  flesh,  preserved  salmon,  preserved 
milk,  &c. ;  at  length  castor-oil  was  forcibly  ad- 
ministered. Puss  is  a  great  favourite.  Our 
finest  dog,  Sultan,  is  also  sick,  and  his  coat  is 
in  bad  order ;  blubber  has  been  prescribed  for 
him ; — and  poor  old  Mary  has  fits,  not  uncom- 
mon after  the  long  winter.  Petersen  imme- 
diately ordered  her  to  be  bled  by  slitting  her 
ear ;  but  Christian,  in  his  fright  and  haste, 
cropped  the  tip  of  it  off.  These  are  our  only 
medical  cases.  A  dovekie,  in  its  white  winter 
plumage,  and  two  seals  have  been  seen  lately. 

15th  Feb. — The  returning  daylight  cheers 
us  up  wonderfully — not  that  we  were  suffering, 
either  mentally  or  bodily,  but  the  change  is 
most  agreeable;  we  can  take  much  longer 
walks  than  was  possible  during  the  dark  period. 
The  men  have  been  supplied  with  muskets,  and 
go  out  sporting  as  ardently  as  schoolboys.  I 
took  a  long  walk  towards  one  of  our  iceberg 


Feb.  1858.    CONSTANT  ACTION  OF  THE  ICE.  87 

companions,  but  could  not  quite  reach  it  as 
weak  ice  intervened,  each  step  producing  an 
undulation.  Finding  the  point  of  my  knife 
went  through  it  with  but  very  slight  resist- 
ance, I  gave  up  the  attempt  and  turned  back. 
The  ship's  masts  were  scarcely  visible  in  the 
distance  ;  almost  the  whole  of  the  intervening 
ice  was  of  this  winter  s  growth,  and  in  many 
places  much  crushed  up. 

Daylight  reveals  to  us  evidences  of  vast  ice 
movements  having  taken  place  during  the  dark 
months  when  we  fancied  all  was  still  and  quiet ; 
and  we  now  see  how  greatly  we  have  been 
favoured,  what  innumerable  chances  of  destruc- 
tion we  have  unconsciously  escaped !  A  few 
days  ago  the  ice  suddenly  cracked  within  ten 
yards  of  the  ship,  and  gave  her  such  a  smart 
shock  that  every  one  rushed  on  deck  with  aston- 
ishing alacrity.  One  of  these  sudden  disrup- 
tions occurred  between  me  and  the  ship  when 
I  was  returning  from  the  iceberg ;  the  sun  was 
just  setting  as  I  found  myself  cut  off.  Had  I 
been  upon  the  other  side  I  would  have  loitered 
to  enjoy  a  refreshing  gaze  upon  this  dark  streak 
of  water ;  but  after  a  smart  run  of  about  a  mile 
along  its  edge,  and  finding  no  place  to  cross, 
visions  of  a  patrol  on  the  floe  for  the  long  night 
of  fifteen  hours  began  to  obtrude   themselves ! 


88  RETURN  OF  A  DESERTER.  Chap.  V. 

At  length  I  reached  a  place  where  the  jagged 
edges  of  the  floes  met,  so  crossed  and  got  safely 
on  board.  Nothing  was  seen  during  this  walk 
of  nearly  25  miles  except  one  seal.  Recent 
gales  have  drifted  us  rapidly  southward ;  cracks 
and  lanes  are  very  numerous. 

On  the  1st  a  blue  (or  sooty)  fox  was  shot. 
Although  130  geographical  miles  from  the 
nearest  land  he  was  very  fat,  hence  we  argue 
dovekies  were  much  more  numerous  during 
winter  than  we  supposed.  We  have  often  no- 
ticed the  tracks  of  foxes  following  up  those  of 
the  bears,  probably  for  discarded  scraps  of  the 
seals  upon  which  they  prey.  Hobson's  favourite 
dog  "  Chummie  "  has  returned,  after  an  absence 
of  six  days,  decidedly  hungry,  but  he  can  hardly 
have  been  without  food  all  that  time ;  some  fox 
may  have  lured  him  off.  He  evinced  great 
delight  at  getting  back,  devoted  his  first  atten- 
tions to  a  hearty  meal,  then  rubbed  himself  up 
against  his  own  particular  associates,  after  which 
he  sought  out  and  attacked  the  weakest  of  his 
enemies,  and,  soothed  by  their  howlings,  coiled 
himself  up  for  a  long  sleep. 

1st  March. — February  has  been  a  remark- 
ably mild,  cloudy,  windy  month  :  the  winter 
temperature  may  be  said  to  have  passed  away 
by  the  10th,  the  average  temperature  for  the 


Mar.  1858.  EETUEN  OF  THE  SEALS.  89 

first  ten  days  being  —  25°,  whilst  for  the  remain- 
der of  the  month  it  was  —11°.  Had  one  fallen 
asleep  for  a  month  at  least,  he  could  not  rea- 
sonably have  expected  to  find  a  greater  change 
on  awaking.  Our  drift  has  been  also  great, — 
166  miles.  We  are  south  of  the  70th  parallel, 
and  may  soon  be  expelled  from  our  icy  home. 

On  the  24th  there  was  a  fearful  gale  of  wind. 
Had  not  our  housing  been  very  well  secured,  it 
must  have  been  blown  away.  We  are  pre- 
paring for  sea,  removing  the  snow  from  off  the 
deck  and  round  the  ship  ;  our  skylights  have 
been  dug  out  (in  winter  they  are  always  covered 
with  a  thick  layer  of  snow),  and  the  flood  of 
light  which  beams  down  through  them  is  quite 
charming.  How  intolerably  sooty  and  smoke- 
dried  everything  looks ! 

On  the  27th  the  first  seal  of  this  year  was 
shot ;  it  came  in  good  time,  for  the  fifty-one 
seals  shot  in  autumn  were  finished  only  two 
days  before  :  our  English  supply  of  dogs'  food 
therefore  remains  almost  untouched.  Snow  was 
observed  to  melt  against  the  ship's  side  exposed 
to  the  sun,  the  thermometer  in  the  shade  stand- 
ing at  —22°  !  Avery  fine  dog  has  died  from 
eating  a  quantity  of  salt  fish,  which  he  managed 
to  get  at  although  it  was  supposed  to  be  quite 
out  of  his  reach. 


90  SEALS  SHOT.  Chap.  V. 

One  of  the  two  large  icebergs  which  com- 
menced this  voyage  with  us  last  October,  in 
75i°  N.,  has  drifted  out  of  sight  to  the  S.E.  •  the 
other  one  is  far  off  in  the  N.W.  I  attribute 
these  increased  distances  solely  to  the  spreading 
abroad  of  the  intervening  ice. 

When  we  were  far  north,  and  probably  drifting 
more  slowly  than  the  ice  in  the  stream  of  Lan- 
caster Sound  to  the  westward  of  us,  the  ship's 
head  turned  very  gradually  from  right  to  left, 
from  N.N.  W.  to  W. ;  when  about  the  parallel  of 
72°  N.,  we  supposed  ourselves  to  be  drifting 
faster  than  the  western  ice  ;  in  this,  as  in  the 
previous  case,  comparing  our  drift  with  that  of 
Lieutenant  De  Haven,  the  ship's  head  slowly 
shifted  back  to  the  right  as  far  as  W.N.W.  ; 
latterly  it  has  not  changed  at  all :  we  are  in  a 
narrower  part  of  Davis'  Strait,  where  the  winds 
probably  blow  with  equal  force  from  shore  to 
shore,  and  drift  the  whole  pack  at  an  uniform 
rate. 

bth. — On  the  2nd  four  fat  seals  and  some 
dovekies  were  shot ;  the  largest  seal  weighed 
170  lbs.,  the  smallest  150  lbs. ;  they  were  males 
of  the  species  Phoca  hespida,  or  Phoca  foetida, 
the  latter  epithet  being  by  far  the  most  appro- 
priate at  this  season ;  the  disagreeable  odour 
resembles  garlic,  and  taints  the  whole  animal  so 


Mar.  1858.  REVOLVING  STORM.  91 

strongly  that  even  Esquimaux  are  nearly  over- 
powered by  it :  this  is  almost  the  only  descrip- 
tion of  seal  we  have  obtained,  but  the  females 
are  at  all  seasons  free  from  fetor.  Several  long 
lanes  of  water  extend  at  right  angles  to  the 
straits. 

The  Doctor  has  taken  a  photograph  of  the 
ship  by  the  albumen  process  on  glass ;  the  tem- 
perature at  the  time  was  below  zero.  Upon 
the  3rd  and  4th  a  well-marked  revolving  storm 
passed  nearly  over  us  to  the  W.N.W. ;  its  ex- 
treme diameter  was  30  hours,  that  of  the 
strength  of  the  gale  18  hours;  its  centre  pro- 
bably passed  about  one-tenth  of  its  diameter  to 
the  S.W.  The  barometer  was  rather  high, 
having  risen  just  before  the  wind  commenced 
at  N.E. ;  but  it  now  fell  half  an  inch  in  ten 
hours,  and  continued  to  fall  until  the  wind 
shifted  —  almost  suddenly  —  through  S.E.  to 
S.S.W.  ;  immediately  the  barometer  got  up 
rapidly.  As  the  barometer  fell,  the  tempera- 
ture rose  from  zero  to  +18°,  and  fell  again 
after  the  change  of  wind.  This  violent  storm 
brought  with  it  a  smart  hail-shower. 

The  depression  of  the  ice  about  the  bows,  in 
consequence  of  a  vast  accumulation  of  snow- 
drift upon  it,  brought  the  ship  down  by  the 
head  considerably ;  to-day  this  ice  suddenly  de- 


92  DISCO  SIGHTED.  Chap.  V. 

tached  itself,  and  the  fore  part  of  the  vessel 
sprang  up ;  she  still  remains  frozen  and  held 
down  abaft.  The  snow-banking  looks  very 
woe-begone  after  this  ice-quake;  it  inclines  out 
from  the  ship,  and  in  many  places  has  been 
prostrated  by  the  shock. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  7th  the  high 
land  of  Disco  was  seen  ;  its  distance  was  upwards 
of  90  miles. 


Mar.  1858.  A  BEAR-FIGHT.  93 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

A  "bear-fight  —  An  ice-nip  —  Strong*  gales,  rapid  drift  —  The  '  Fox ' 
breaks  ®ut  of  the  pack  —  Hanging  on  to  floe-edge  —  The  Arctic 
bear  —  An  ice  tournament  —  The  '  Fox '  in  peril  —  A  storm  in 
the  pack  —  Escape  from  the  pack. 

9/A  March. — A  bear  was  seen  this  morning  ;  but 
as  lie  was  going  away  from  ns,  the  dogs  were 
brought  out  in  the  hope  that  they  might  keep 
him  at  bay  until  the  sportsmen  came  up.  It 
was  very  pretty  to  see  them  take  up  the  scent, 
the  moment  they  caught  sight  of  him  they  set 
off  at  full  speed.  Bruin  had  seen  them  first, 
and  increased  his  pace  to  a  clumsy  gallop,  yet 
the  dogs  were  soon  around  him  ;  he  seemed  to 
care  but  little  about  them,  steadily  making  off 
and  following  the  trending  of  a  recently  frozen 
crack  in  search  of  clear  water,  evidently  aware 
that  his  persecutors  would  not  follow  him 
there. 

After  five  hours  all  returned  on  board  again  ; 
out  of  the  ten  dogs  four  were  wounded  by  his 
claws, — skin  deep  only, — but  one  of  the  wounds 
was  seven  inches  in  length,  as  if  made  with  a 
sharp  knife !  this  was  sewed  up,  the  others 
were  merely  trimmed,  and  nature  I  am  informed 


94  SEAL-STEAKS.  Chap.  VI. 

will  do  all  the  rest.  It  is  really  wonderful  what 
cures  nature  and  instinct  effect :  notwithstand- 
ing the  extreme  cold,  no  external  dressings  are 
.applied,  because  the  animal  must  not  be  pre- 
vented from  licking  its  wound.  Petersen  says 
this  bear  must  be  very  thin,  else  he  could  not 
run  so  fast.  I  think  it  very  probable  that  he 
has  been  hunted  before,  and  that  fear  lent  him 
wings.     A  black  whale  has  been  seen. 

11th. — Two  small  seals  free  from  taint  were 
shot  yesterday,  so  we  had  fried  liver  and  steaks 
for  breakfast  this  morning ;  •  both  were  good, 
but  the  steaks  were  preferred ;  they  were  very 
dark  and  very  tender,  had  been  cut  thin,  de- 
prived of  all  fat,  and  washed  in  two  or  three 
waters  to  get  rid  of  the  blubber. 

16th. — Several  long  lanes  of  water  have  again 
opened,  but  now  all  of  them  extend  parallel  to 
the  direction  of  the  straits ;  one  lane  passed 
within  120  yards  of  the  ship ;  its  extremes  are 
not  visible  even  from  aloft ;  the  ice  upon  its 
east  side  has  a  more  rapid  southerly  motion 
than  that  upon  its  west  side. 

18th. — Last  night  the  ice  closed,  shutting  up 
our  lane,  but  its  opposite  sides  continued  for 
several  hours  to  move  past  each  other,  rubbing 
off  all  projections,  crushing,  and  forcing  out  of 
water  masses  four  feet  thick  :  although  120  yards 


Mar.  1858.  AN  ICE-NIP.  95 

distant,  this  pressure  shook  the  ship  and  cracked 
the  intervening  ice. 

I  went  out  with  a  lantern  to  see  the  nip, — 
it  certainly  was  awe-inspiring ;  no  one  in  his, 
senses  could  avoid  reflecting  upon  the  inevitable 
fate  of  a  ship  if  exposed  to  such  fearful  pressure. 
It  is  now  spring  tides. 

19^A. — All  yesterday  the  lane  remained  open, 
in  the  evening  it  closed  with  but  slight  pressure  ; 
yet  as  the  opposing  fields  of  ice  continued  to 
move  in  opposite  directions,  all  jagged  points 
were  brushed  off,  and  the  de'bris  thus  formed 
between  their  edges  presented  a  heaving  surface 
of  ice-masses, — an  ice  river.  On  the  separation 
of  the  floes,  mass  after  mass  forced  itself  up  to 
the  surface,  until  at  length  all  the  submerged 
ice  had  risen,  except  such  as  had  been  forced 
quite  under  their  edges.  One  seldom  meets 
with  a  cleanly  fractured  floe-edge,  they  are 
usually  fringed  with  crushed-up  ice  or  newly 
formed  sludge. 

23rc?. — Seals  and  dovekies  are  now  common  ; 
the  latter  have  already  made  considerable  ad- 
vances towards  their  summer  plumage. 

Yesterday  there  was  a  very  heavy  S.E.  gale ; 
it  blew  so  furiously,  and  the  snow-drift  was 
so  dense,  that  we  could  neither  hear  nor  see 
what  was  going  on  twenty  yards  off;  at  night 


96  STRONG  GALES.  Chap.  VI. 

the  ship,  becoming  suddenly  detached  from  the 
ice,  heeled  over  to  the  storm  ;  until  the  cause 
was  ascertained  we  thought  the  ice  had  broken 
up,  and  pressed  against  the  ship.  It  was  not 
so ;  but  when  the  weather  moderated  we  found 
that  there  had  been  heavy  pressure  upon  the 
edge  of  the  floes, — so  much,  indeed,  that  the 
lane  of  water  was  now  within  70  yards  of  the 
4  Fox  ;'  and  that  ice  4i  feet  thick  had  been 
crushed  during  the  storm  for  a  distance  of  about 
50  yards. 

2bth. — Strong  N.W.  winds  lately,  the  ship 
rocking  to  the  breeze,  and  rubbing  her  poor  sides 
against  the  ice,  producing  a  creaking  sound  which 
is  far  from  pleasant.  More  ice-squeezing,  and  a 
further  inroad  upon  our  barrier ;  it  has  yielded 
slightly,  nipping  the  ship,  inclining  her  to  port, 
and  lifting  her  stern  about  a  foot.  Occasional 
groanings  within,  and  surgings  of  the  ice 
without. 

Our  boats,  provisions,  sledges,  knapsacks,  and 
equipment,  are  ready  for  a  hasty  departure, 
■ — beyond  this  we  can  do  nothing  ;  as  long  as 
our  friendly  barrier  lasts  we  need  not  fear,  but 
who  can  tell  the  moment  it  may  be  demolished, 
and  the  ship  exposed  to  destruction  ?  I  am 
scribbling  within  a  foot  of  the  sternpost — in  fact 
there  is  a  notch  in  my  table  to  receive  it ;  and 


Mar.  1858.  STRONG  GALES.  97 

I  sympathise  with  its  constant  groanings;  the 
ice  allows  it  no  rest. 

27th. — Strong  N.W.  gale  with  a  return  of 
cold  weather.  We  have  drifted  39  miles  in  the 
last  forty-eight  hours  !  The  lane  is  open ;  the 
whole  pack  appears  to  have  plenty  of  room  to 
drift,  and,  I  am  happy  to  add,  is  taking  advan- 
tage of  it, — so  much  so  that  the  smaller  pieces 
floating  freely  in  the  lane  can  hardly  go  at  the 
same  pace.  Our  remaining  winter  companion, 
the  iceberg,  was  in  sight  a  few  days  ago,  far 
away  to  the  N.W.  ;  it  may  be  still  visible  from 
aloft,  but  these  March  gales  cut  so  keenly,  that 
the  crow's-nest  is  but  seldom  visited. 

31st. — Another  N.W.  gale;  it  is  also  spring 
tides,  and  this  conjunction  makes  one  fearful  of 
ice  movement  and  pressure  ;  but  it  seems  as  if 
the  pack  had  more  room  to  move  in,  as  it  does 
not  close  much.  Seals  are  often  shot,  bear  tracks 
are  common,  and  narwhals  are  frequently  seen 
migrating  northward.  The  bears  must  prefer 
the  night-time  for  wandering  about,  else  we 
could  not  help  seeing  them  ;  we  often  find  their 
tracks  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  the  ship.    , 

Although  the  last,  yet  this  is  the  coldest  day 
of  the  month — thermometer  down  to  —  27°.  The 
mean  temperature  for  March  has  been  unusually 
high,  —  3° ;  whilst  Lieutenant  De  Haven's  was 

H 


98  BBEAKING  UP  OF  ICE.  Chap.  VI. 

—  17°.  Notwithstanding  that  heavy  S.E.  gales 
have  three  times  driven  us  backward,  yet  we 
have  advanced  100  miles  further  down  Davis' 
Straits. 

6th  April. — To-day  we  enjoy  fine  weather, 
the  more  so  since  it  comes  after  a  tremendous 
northerly  gale  of  forty-eight  hours'  duration. 
Two  days  ago  the  friendly  old  floe,  so  long  our 
bulwark  of  defence,  was  cracked  ;  the  lane  of 
water  thus  formed  soon  widened  to  60  yards, 
passed  within  30  yards  of  the  '  Fox,'  and  cut  off 
three  of  our  boats.  Yesterday  morning  another 
crack  detached  the  remaining  30  yards  from  us, 
and  as  it  widened  the  ship  swung  across  the 
opening ;  as  quickly  as  we  could  effect  it  the 
ship  was  again  placed  alongside  the  ice  and 
within  a  projecting  point :  had  it  closed  only  a 
few  feet  whilst  she  lay  across  the  lane,  the  con- 
sequences must  have  been  very  serious.  Even 
to  effect  this  slight  change  of  position  we  were 
fully  occupied  for  four  hours  ;  for  the  gale  blew 
furiously,  and  thermometer  stood  at  12°  below 
zero,  and  the  cold  was  very  much  felt ;  our 
hawsers  were  frozen  so  stiff  as  to  be  quite  un- 
manageable, and  we  were  obliged  to  use  the 
chain  cables  to  warp  the  ship  into  safety. 

Throughout  yesterday  the  wind  continued  ex- 
tremely strong  and  keen, — fortunately  the  ice 


Ape.  1858.  OUT  OF  THE  PACK.  99 

remained  perfectly  still  :  our  funnels  refused  to 
draw  up  the  smoke ;  so  that  between  the  suffo- 
cation, the  cold,  and  anxiety  lest  the  ice  should 
move,  our  Easter  Monday  was  sufficiently  miser- 
able. The  half  of  our  poor  dogs  were  cut  off 
from  the  ship  by  the  lane,  and  continued  to 
howl  dismally  until  late,  when  the  new  ice  over 
the  lane  was  strong  enough  to  bear  them,  and 
they  came  across  to  us. 

To-day  we  have  recovered  the  boats,  shot  four 
seals,  seen  two  whales,  and  much  water  to  the 
eastward ;  we  are  in  latitude  67°  18'  N.,  and 
highly  delighted  with  the  rapidity  of  our 
southern  drift. 

10th. — Yesterday  evening  the  setting  sun 
rendered  visible  the  western  land,  probably  Cape 
Dyer.  We  have  drifted  70  miles  in  the  last  week, 
and  are  only  18  miles  from  De  Haven's  position 
of  escape  ;  but  as  we  are  two  months  earlier, 
we  must  expect  to  be  carried  farther  south. 

12th. — This  morning  we  drifted  ingloriously 
out  of  the  Arctic  regions,  and  with  what  very 
different  feelings  from  those  with  which  we 
crossed  the  Arctic  circle  eight  months  ago ! 
However,  we  have  not  done  with  it  yet ; 
directly  the  ice  lets  us  go,  we  will  (D.  V.)  re- 
enter the  frigid  zone,  and  "  try  again,"  with,  I 
trust,  better  success. 

H  2 


100  HANGING  OX  TO  FLOE-EDGE.  Chap.  VI. 

A  gull  and  a  few  terns  appeared  to-day  ;  these 
are  the  first  of  our  summer  visitors.  The  tem- 
perature improves  ;  yesterday  at  one  o'clock  it 
was  + 19°  in  the  shade,  +15°  in  the  crow's-nest 
70  feet  high,  and  +51°  against  a  black  surface 
exposed  to  the  sun. 

16th. — Last  night  a  bear  came  to  the  ship, 
was  wounded,  but  escaped ;  to-day  the  tracks 
were  followed  up  for  three  miles,  the  bear  found, 
and  again  wounded — finally  the  unlucky  beast 
was  shot  in  the  water  seven  miles  from  the  ship  ; 
it  was  lost  in  consequence  of  the  rapid  drifting 
of  the  ice,  which  ran  over  the  floating  carcase. 

To-night  a  dense  fog-bank  rests  upon  the 
water  to  the  southward  ;  its  upper  edge  is  illumi- 
nated by  aurora,  showing  a  faint  tremulous  light. 

17th. — Another  northerly  gale;  holding  fast 
to  the  ice  with  three  hawsers  ;  snow-drift  limits 
the  view  to  a  couple  of  miles,  so  all  to  the  east- 
ward appears  water,  and  to  the  westward  ice. 

Last  night  the  ice  opened  considerably ;  to 
secure  the  ship  occupied  us  for  six  hours ;  several 
of  the  dogs  were  again  cut  off ;  as  the  ice  they 
were  on  was  rapidly  drifting  away,  I  sent  a 
boat  to  recover  them  ;  it  was  a  difficult  and 
hazardous  business,  but  at  length  the  boat  and 
dogs  returned  in  safety,  to  my  great  relief,  for 
it  was  both  dark  and  late. 


Apr.  1858.  DOGS  LOST.  101 

18^A. — Yesterday  morning,  when  I  wrote  up 
my  journal,  I  was  hoping  to  hold  on  quietly  to 
the  floe-edge  until  the  wind  moderated,  when 
with  clear  weather  we  could  take  advantage  of 
the  openings  and  make  some  progress  towards 
the  cle'ar  sea.  We  were  unable  to  hold  on,  for 
the  floe-edge  broke  away,  setting  us  adrift ;  some 
time  was  occupied  in  fetching  off  the  boats  and 
dogs, — five  of  the  latter  unfortunately  would 
not  allow  themselves  to  be  caught.  As  speedily 
as  possible  the  rudder  was  shipped  and  sail  set, 
and  before  three  o'clock  the  ship  was  running 
fast  to  the  eastward  !  During  the  night  the  ice 
closed,  and  at  daylight  scarcely  any  water  was 
visible ;  with  the  exception  of  a  couple  of  ice- 
bergs, all  the  ice  in  sight  was  not  more  than  two 
days  old ;  it  mainly  owes  its  origin  and  rapid 
growth  to  the  immense  quantities  of  snow  blown 
off  the  pack. 

It  still  blows  hard,  and  thermometer  stands 
at  11°.  A  sudden  opening  of  the  ice  this  fore- 
noon allowed  us  to  run  a  few  miles  southward, 
and  then  it  closed  again  :  we  are  now  surrounded 
by  young  ice. 

20th. — We  have  been  carried  rapidly  past  the 
position  where  the  Arctic  discovery  ship  '  Reso- 
lute '  was  picked  up. 

Yesterday  three  bears,  a  fulmar  petrel,  and  a 


102  THE  ARCTIC  BEAR.  Chap.  VI. 

snow  bunting  were  seen  ;  to-day  a  fine  bear 
came  within  150  yards,  and  was  shot  by  our 
sportsmen ;  as  they  were  standing  round  it 
afterwards  upon  the  ice,  a  small  seal,  the  only 
one  seen  for  several  days,  popped  up  its  head 
as  if  to  exult  over  its  fallen  enemy — it  was  of 
course  instantly  shot :  we  have  learnt  to  esteem 
seal's  liver  for  breakfast  very  highly. 

It  seems  hardly  right  to  call  polar  bears  land 
animals;  they  abound  here, — 110  geographical 
miles  from  the  nearest  land, — upon  very  loose 
broken-up  ice,  which  is  steadily  drifting  into 
the  Atlantic  at  the  rate  of  12  or  14  miles  daily  ; 
to  remain  upon  it  would  insure  their  destruc- 
tion were  they  not  nearly  amphibious  ;  they 
hunt  by  scent,  and  are  constantly  running  across 
and  against  the  wind,  which  prevails  from  the 
northward,  so  that  the  same  instinct  which 
directs  their  search  for  prey,  also  serves  the 
important  purpose  of  guiding  them  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  land  and  more  solid  ice. 

I  remarked  that  the  upper  part  of  both  Bruin's 
fore-paws  were  rubbed  quite  bare  :  Petersen  ex- 
plains that  to  surprise  the  seal  a  bear  crouches 
down  with  his  fore-paws  doubled  underneath, 
and  pushes  himself  noiselessly  forward  with  his 
hinder  le^s  until  within  a  few  yards,  when  he 
springs  upon  the  unsuspecting  victim,  whether 


THE   GBEENLANDEB'S   SUPPEB  APPBOPBIATED   BY  A  BEAB. 
Drawn  by  Captain  May. 


Apr.  1858.  THE  AECTIC  BEAR.  103 

in  the  water  or  upon  the  ice.  The  Greenlanders 
are  fond  of  bear's  flesh,  but  never  eat  either  the 
heart  or  liver,  and  say  that  these  parts  cause 
sickness.  No  instance  is  known  of  Greenland 
bears  attacking  men,  except  when  wounded  or 
provoked  ;  they  never  disturb  the  Esquimaux 
graves,  although*  they  seldom  fail  to  rob  a  cache 
of  seal's  flesh,  which  is  a  similar  construction  of 
loose  stones  above  ground. 

A  native  of  Upernivik,  one  dark  winter's  day, 
was  out  visiting  his  seal-nets.  He  found  a  seal 
entangled,  and,  whilst  kneeling  down  over  it 
upon  the  ice  to  get  it  clear,  he  received  a  slap  on 
the  back  — from  his  companion  as  he  supposed  ; 
but  a  second  and  heavier  blow  made  him  look 
smartly  round.  He  was  horror-stricken  to  see  a 
peculiarly  grim  old  bear  instead  of  his  comrade  ! 
Without  deigning  further  notice  of  the  man, 
Bruin  tore  the  seal  out  of  the  net  and  com- 
menced his  supper.  He  was  not  interrupted ; 
nor  did  the  man  wait  to  see  the  meal  finished. 

1  had  long  ago  resolved,  if  we  escaped  before 
the  15th,  or  the  20th  April  at  the  latest,  to 
go  to  Newfoundland  to  refresh  the  crew  and 
to  refit,  even  if  no  damage  from  the  ice  should 
be  sustained.  In  order  to  do  so  it  would  have 
been  necessary  for  us  to  visit  a  Greenland  port 
for  a   supply  of  water.      We    could  not   have 


104  THE  OCEAN  SWELL.  Chap.  VI. 

calculated  upon  much  assistance  from  our  engines 
upon  such  a  voyage,  Mr.  Brand  alone  being 
capable  of  working  the  engines,  so  that  ten  or 
twelve  hours  daily  is  all  the  steaming  that  could 
have  been  expected. 

But  we  are  still  ice-locked,  so  I  purpose  going 
to  Holsteinborg  in  preference  to  a  more  southern 
port,  as  there  we  may  expect  to  get  reindeer 
and  a  small  supply  of  stores  suitable  to  our 
wants.  The  whalers  sometimes  reach  Disco  in 
March,  Upernivik  in  May,  and  the  North  Water 
early  in  June.  Unless  we  should  be  at  once 
set  free,  we  would  not  have  time  to  spare  for 
a  Newfoundland  voyage. 

24Jh. — Another  anxious  week  has  passed. 
Latterly  we  have  experienced  south-westerly 
currents  similar  to  those  which  Parry  describes 
when  beset  here  in  June,  1819.  To-day  we 
have  had  a  strong  S.E.  breeze,  with  snow  and 
dark  weather.  The  wind  had  greatly  moderated 
when  the  swell  reached  us  about  eight  o'clock 
this  evening.  It  is  now  ten  o'clock  ;  the  long 
ocean  swell  already  lifts  its  crest  five  feet  above 
the  hollow  of  the  sea,  causing  its' thick  covering 
of  icy  fragments  to  dash  against  each  other  and 
against  us  with  unpleasant  violence.  It  is  how- 
ever very  beautiful  to  look  upon,  the  dear  old 
familiar  ocean-swell !  it  has  long  been  a  stranger 


Ape.  1858.  AN  ICE-TOURNAMENT.  105 

to  us,  and  is  welcome  in  our  solitude.  If  the 
'  Fox'  was  as  solid  as  her  neighbours,  I  am  quite 
sure  she  would  enter  into  this  ice-tournament 
with  all  their  apparent  heartiness,  instead  of 
audibly  making  known  her  sufferings  to  us. 
Every  considerable  surface  of  ice  has  been 
broken  into  many  smaller  ones;  with  feelings 
of  exultation  I  watched  the  process  from  aloft. 
A  floe-piece  near  us,  of  100  yards  in  diameter, 
was  speedily  cracked  so  as  to  resemble  a  sort  of 
labyrinth,  or,  still  more,  a  field-spider's  web. 
In  the  course  of  half  an  hour  the  family  re- 
semblance was  totally  lost ;  they  had  so  bat- 
tered each  other,  and  struggled  out  of  their 
original  regularity.  The  rolling  sea  can  no 
longer  be  checked  ;  "  the  pack  has  taken  upon 
itself  the  functions  of  an  ocean,"  as  Dr.  Kane 
graphically  expresses  it. 

2  6th . — At  sea  !  How  am  I  to  describe  the 
events  of  the  last  two  days?  It  has  pleased 
God  to  accord  to  us  a  deliverance  in  which  His 
merciful  protection  contrasts — how  strongly  ! — 
with  our  own  utter  helplessness  ;  as  if  the  suc- 
cessive mercies  vouchsafed  to  us  during  our 
long  long  winter  and  mysterious  ice-drift  had 
been  concentrated  and  repeated  in  a  single  act. 
Thus  forcibly  does  His  great  goodness  come 
home  to  the  mind ! 


106  THE  '  FOX '  IN  PERIL.  Chap.  VI. 

I  am  in  no  humour  for  writing,  being  still 
tired,  seedy,  and  perhaps  a  little  sea-sick  ;  at 
least  I  have  a  headache,  caused  by  the  rolling  of 
the  ship  and  rattling  noise  of  everything. 

On  Saturday  night,  the  24th,  I  went  on  deck 
to  spend  the  greater  part  of  it  in  watching,  and 
to  determine  what  to  do.  The  swell  greatly 
increased ;  it  had  evidently  been  approaching 
for  hours  before  it  reached  us,  since  it  rose  in 
proportion  as  the  ice  was  broken  up  into  smaller 
pieces.  In  a  short  time  but  few  of  them  were 
equal  in  size  to  the  ship's  deck ;  most  of  them 
not  half  so  large.  I  knew  that  near  the  pack- 
edge  the  sea  would  be  very  heavy  and  dan- 
gerous ;  but  the  wind  was  now  fair,  and,  having 
auxiliary  steam-power,  I  resolved  to  push  out  of 
the  ice  if  possible. 

Shortly  after  midnight  the  ship  was  under 
sail,  slowly  boring  her  way  to  the  eastward  ;  at 
two  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning  commenced 
steaming,  the  wind  having  failed.  By  eight 
o'clock  we  had  advanced  considerably  to  the 
eastward,  and  the  swell  had  become  dangerously 
high,  the  waves  rising  ten  feet  above  the  trough 
of  the  sea.  The  shocks  of  the  ice  against  the 
ship  were  alarmingly  heavy ;  it  became  neces- 
sary to  steer  exactly  head-on  to  swell.  We 
slowly  passed   a   small   iceberg    60    or  70  feet 


Apr.  1858.  CLEAR  OF  THE  PACK.  107 

high ;  the  swell  forced  it  crashing  through  the 
pack,  leaving  a  small  water-space  in  its  wake, 
but  sufficient  to  allow  the  seas  to  break  against 
its  cliffs,  and  throw  the  spray  in  heavy  showers 
quite  over  its  summit. 

The  cfay  wore  on  without  change,  except  that 
the  snow  and  mists  cleared  off.  Gradually  the 
swell  increased,  and  rolled  along  more  swiftly, 
becoming  in  fact  a  very  heavy  regular  sea, 
rather  than  a  swell.  The  ice  often  lay  so  closely 
packed  that  we  could  hardly  force  ahead,  al- 
though the  fair  wind  had  again  freshened  up. 
Much  heavy  hummocky  ice  and  large  berg- 
pieces  lay  dispersed  through  the  pack  ;  a  single 
thump  from  any  of  them  would  have  been  in- 
stant destruction.  By  five  o'clock  the  ice  became 
more  loose,  and  clear  spaces  of  water  could  be 
seen  ahead.  We  went  faster,  received  fewer 
though  still  more  severe  shocks,  until  at  length 
we  had  room  to  steer  clear  of  the  heaviest 
pieces ;  and  at  eight  o'clock  we  emerged  from 
the  villanous  "  pack,"  and  were  running  fast 
through  straggling  pieces  into  a  clear  sea.  The 
engines  were  stopped,  and  Mr.  Brand  permitted 
to  rest  after  eighteen  hours'  duty,  for  we  now 
have  no  one  else  capable  of  driving  the 
engines. 


108  DANGER  FROM  ICE-MASSES.  Chap.  VI. 

Throughout  the  day  I  trembled  for  the  safety 
of  the  rudder,  and  screw  ;  deprived  of  the  one 
or  the  other,  even  for  half  an  hour,  I  think 
our  fate  would  have  been  sealed;  to  have 
steered  in  any  other  direction  than  against  the 
swell  would  have  exposed,  and  probably  sacri- 
ficed both. 

Our  bow  is  very  strongly  fortified,  well  plated 
externally  with  iron,  and  so  very  sharp  that  the 
ice-masses,  repeatedly  hurled  against  the  ship  by 
the  swell  as  she  rose  to  meet  it,  were  thus 
robbed  of  their  destructive  force ;  they  struck 
us  obliquely,  yet  caused  the  vessel  to  shake 
violently,  the  bells  to  ring,  and  almost  knocked 
us  off  our  legs.  On  many  occasions  the  en- 
gines were  stopped  dead  by  ice  choking  the 
screw ;  once  it  was  some  minutes  before  it 
could  be  got  to  revolve  again.  Anxious  mo- 
ments those  ! 

After  yesterday's  experience  I  can  understand 
how  men's  hair  have  turned  grey  in  a  few  hours. 
Had  self-reliance  been  my  only  support  and 
hope,  it  is  not  impossible  that  I  might  have  illus- 
trated the  fact.  Under  the  circumstances  I  did 
my  best  to  insure  our  safety,  looked  as  stoical  as 
possible,  and  inwardly  trusted  that  God  would 
favour  our  exertions.     What  a  release  ours  has 


Apr.  1858.  ESCAPE  FROM  THE  PACK.  109 

been,  not  only  from  eight  months'  imprison- 
ment, but  from  the  perils  of  that  one  day  !  Had 
our  little  vessel  been  destroyed  after  the  ice 
broke  up,  there  remained  no  hojoe  for  us.  But 
we  have  been  brought  safely  through,  and  are 
all  truly  grateful,  I  hope,  and  believe. 

I  grieve  to  think  of  poor  Lady  Franklin  and 
our  friends  at  home.  Severely  as  we  have  felt 
the  failure  of  our  first  season's  operations,  yet 
the  ordeal  is  now  over  with  us  :  not  so  with  her 
and  them, — they  have  still  to  experience  that 
bitter  disappointment. 

Our  distance  within  the  pack-edge,  where  we 
first  made  sail  yesterday,  was  22  miles.  Before 
we  got  clear  of  the  ice  the  height  of  the  waves 
was  134  feet ;  after  passing  through  the  last  of 
it  there  was  no  increase,  but  the  sea  was  more 
confused  ;  in  fact,  within  the  ice  all  minor  dis- 
turbances were  quelled  or  merged  into  one 
regular  fast-following  swell.  The  ship  and  her 
machinery  behaved  most  admirably  in  the 
struggle ;  should  I  ever  have  to  pass  through 
such  an  ice-covered,  heaving  ocean  again,  let  me 
secure  a  passage  in  the  '  Fox.' 

During  our  242  days  in  the  packed-ice  of 
Baffin's  Bay  and  Davis'  Straits  we  were  drifted 
1194  geographical  or  1385  statute  miles;  it  is 


110  STEERING  FOR  HOLSTEINBORG.        Chap.  VI. 

the  longest  drift  I  know  of,  and  our  winter,  as 
a  whole,  may  be  considered  as  having  been  mild, 
but  very  windy. 

We  are  steering  now  for  Holsteinborg,  where 
I  intend  to  refit  and  refresh  the  crew  ;  it  is 
reputed  to  be  the  best  place  for  reindeer  upon 
the  coast. 


Apr.  1858.      ANCHORED  AT  HOLSTEINBORG.  Ill 


CHAPTER  VII. 

A  holiday  yi  Greenland  —  A  lady  blue  with  cold  —  The  loves  of 
Greenlanders  —  Close  shaving  —  Meet  the  whalers  —  Informa- 
tion of  whalers  —  Disco — Danish  hospitality — Sail  from  Disco — 
Kindness  of  the  whalers  —  Danish  establishments  in  Greenland. 

Wednesday  night,  April  2$t7i. — Safely  anchored 
at  Holsteinborg,  and  moored  to  the  rocks  ;  a 
charming  change,  after  our  position  only  a  few 
days  back.  We  have  been  visited  by  the  Danish 
residents  —  the  chief  trader  or  governor,  the 
priest,  and  two  others:  their  latest  European 
intelligence  is  not  more  recent  than  our  own,  but 
the  Danish  ship  is  hourly  expected  ;  she  usually 
leaves  Copenhagen  about  the  middle  of  March. 

The  winter  here  has  been  just  the  reverse  of 
our  own  experience  ;  it  has  been  severe  in  point 
of  temperature,  but  with  very  little  wind ;  the 
land  lies  buried  in  snow,  and  as  yet  there  is  no 
thaw ;  it  is  too  early  for  the  cod-fishery,  and 
not  a  single  reindeer  has  been  killed  throughout 
the  winter !  Eider-ducks,  looms,  and  dovekies 
are  abundant,  as  well  as  hares  and  ptarmigan. 

2§th. — A  bright  and  lovely  day.  Our  poor, 
half-famished  dogs  have  been  landed  near  the 
carcases  of  four  whales,  so  they  must  be  su- 


112  HOLIDAY  IN  GREENLAND.  Chap.  VII. 

premely  happy.  I  visited  the  Governor  to-day, 
and  found  his  little  wooden  house  as  scrupu- 
lously clean  and  neat  as  the  houses  of  the  Danish 
residents  in  Greenland  invariably  are.  The  only 
ornaments  about  the  room  were  portraits  of  his 
unfortunate  wife  and  two  children  :  they  em- 
barked at  Copenhagen  last  year  to  rejoin  him, 
and  the  ill-fated  vessel  has  never  since  been 
heard  of.  Poor  Governor  Elberg  is  in  ill 
health,  and  talks  of  returning  home — by  home 
he  means  Denmark,  the  land  of  his  birth,  and 
where  once  he  had  a  home. 

30th. — This  is  a  grand  Danish  holiday ;  the 
inhabitants  are  all  dressed  in  their  Sunday 
clothes — at  least,  all  who  have  got  a  change  of 
garments — and  there  is  both  morning  and  even- 
ing service  in  the  small  wooden  church.  As 
the  Governor  could  not  be  persuaded  to  unlock 
the  door  of  the  dance-house,  our  men  returned 
on  board  early  ;  yesterday  evening  they  were 
all  on  shore,  and,  with  the  Esquimaux,  were 
squeezed  into  this  one  large  room :  to  be 
squeezed  in  a  crowd  of  human  beings  is  positive 
enjoyment  after  a  winter's  isolation  such  as 
ours  has  been.  Old  Harvey  constituted  himself 
master  of  the  ceremonies,  and  with  his  flute 
led  the  orchestra ;  it  consisted  of  one  other 
flute  and  a  fiddle  :  he  managed  to  perch  himself 


May,  1858.  HOLIDAY  IN  GKEENLAND.  113 

above  all  the  rest,  at  one  end  of  the  room,  and 
played  with  such  vigour  that  our  bluejackets 
and  the  Esquimaux  ladies  danced  away  most 
furiously  for  hours.  These  ladies  can  dance  in 
the  least  possible  space,  their  costume  being 
particularly  well  adapted  for  the  purpose,  par- 
taking as  it  does  much  more  of  the  "  Bloomer  " 
than  the  "  crinoline." 

Christian  looks  immensely  happy  :  his  coun- 
trymen regard  him  as  a  man  whose  fortune  is 
made,  and  the  women  gaze  with  admiration 
upon  his  neat  sailor's  dress,  and  his  goodnatured 
full,  round  face,  and  huge  fat,  shining  cheeks  ; 
Mr.  Petersen  is  in  great  request  to  interpret 
between  the  English,  Danes,  and  Esquimaux. 

7th  May. — I  intended  sailing  for  Disco  this 
morning,  but  wind  and  weather  were  adverse. 
We  have  obtained  but  little  here  except  water, 
a  tolerable  supply  of  rock  cod,  some  ptarmigan, 
hares,  wildfowl,  and  a  few  items  of  stores.  The 
Governor  now  thinks  the  Danish  ship  must  have 
been  directed  to  visit  Godhaab  before  coming 
here.  We  have  left  letters  to  go  home  in  her, 
and  they  ought  to  be  in  England  by  the  end  of 
June. 

I  visited  to-day  a  small  lake  at  the  foot  of 
Mount  Cunningham ;  it  is  said  to  occupy  the 
centre  of  an  extinct  volcano  :  but  I  saw  nothing 

I 


114  AN  EARTHQUAKE.  Chap.  VII. 

to  bear  out  the  assertion.  This  is  the  only  part 
of  Greenland  where  earthquakes  are  felt.  The 
Governor  told  me  of  an  unusually  severe  shock 
which  occurred  a  winter  or  two  ago.  He  was 
sitting  in  his  room  and  reading  at  the  time, 
when  he  heard  a  loud  noise  like  the  discharge 
of  a  cannon ;  immediately  afterwards  a  tremu- 
lous motion  was  felt,  some  glasses  upon  the  table 
commenced  to  dance  about,  and  papers  lying 
upon  the  window-sill  fell  down :  after  a  few 
seconds  it  ceased.  He  thinks  the  motion  ori- 
ginated at  the  lake,  as  it  was  not  felt  by  some 
people  living  beyond  it,  and  that  it  passed  from 
N.E.  to  S.W. 

This  mountain  scenery  is  really  charming  ; 
but  a  little  more  animal  life — reindeer,  for  in- 
stance— w^ould^  make  it  far  more  pleasing  in  our 
eyes.  The  last  twelvemonth's  produce  of  this 
district  amounts  only  to  500  reindeer  skins,  in- 
stead of  3000,  as  in  ordinary  years.  The  cler- 
gyman of  Holsteinborg  was  born  in  this  colony, 
and  has  succeeded  his  father  in  the  priestly 
office ;  his  wife  is  the  only  European  female  in 
the  colony.  Being  told  that  fuel  was  extremely 
scarce  in  the  Danish  houses,  and  that  "  the 
priest's  wife  was  blue  with  the  cold,"  I  sent  on 
shore  a  present  of  some  coals. 

On  Sunday  afternoon,  hearing  the  church  bell 


May,  1858.    THE  LOVES  OF  GKEENLAKDERS.  115 

ringing,  I  went  on  shore.  It  proved  to  be  only 
a  christening.  The  little  dusky  infant  received 
a  long  string  of  European  names.  There  was 
a  small  description  of  barrel-organ,  to  the  sound 
of  which  the  congregation  joined  in,  keeping  up 
a  loud  monotonous  chant.  Most  of  the  young 
people  had  hymn-books  in  their  hands,  printed 
in  the  Esquimaux  language. 

Eavens  seem  very  abundant,  also  large  grey 
falcons  :  perhaps  the  dead  whales  may  have 
attracted  an  unusual  number. 

Poor  Christian  has  not  only  fallen  desperately 
in  love,  but  has  engaged  himself  to  the  object 
of  his  affections,  a  pretty  Esquimaux  girl.  He 
asked  me  to-day  to  give  her  a  passage  up  to 
Godhavn,  as  he  wished  to  leave  her  in  charge 
of  his  mother  until  his  return  there  with  us 
next  year,  when  his  engagement  for  the  voyage 
would  be  fulfilled.  Having  heard  a  rumour 
of  a  young  woman  awaiting  his  return  with 
anxiety  at  Godhavn,  I  taxed  him  with  it,  but  he 
replied  with  great  simplicity  that  "  he  had  never 
promised  her,  and  would  not  marry  her,  as  his 
friends  objected  to  the  match!"  What  are  the 
good  Greenlanders  coming  to  ?  I  recommended 
that  he  should  leave  his  betrothed  in  her  own 
home,  with  her  mother  and  family.  His  asking 
a  passage  for  her,  in  order  to  leave  her  with  his 

i  2 


116  STOPPED  BY  THE  ICE.  Chap.  VII. 

mother,  is  strong  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  his 
engagement,  not  only  to  his  lady  love,  but  to 
the  '  Fox '  also. 

I  have  written  to  the  Admiralty  to  account 
for  my  prolonged  absence  from  England  ;  and 
to  Dr.  Rink  to  acquaint  him  with  the  cause  of 
my  second  visit  to  his  inspectorate. 

Governor  Elberg  has  promised  to  get  me 
some  fossil  fish,  to  be  found  only  in  North 
Strom  Fiord :  they  are  interesting,  as  being  of 
unknown  geological  date. 

10/A. — On  the  morning  of  the  8th  we  left 
Holsteinborg  with  a  pleasant  land  wind  and 
bright  weather.  When  15  miles  off  shore  we 
were  stopped  by  ice  formed  during  the  last  two 
nights,  the  thermometer  having  fallen  to  12°; 
out  in  the  offing  the  weather  was  gloomy  and 
cold,  and  strong  northerly  winds  were  blowing. 
On  closing  the  land  again,  we  regained  the  off- 
shore wind,  and  bright  weather. 

Keeping  close  alongshore,  and  threading  our 
way  through  a  vast  deal  of  "  pack  "  and  nume- 
rous icebergs,  we  gained  sight  of  Disco  about 
noon  to-day,  and  by  the  evening  were  within  an 
hour's  sail  of  Godhavn,  when  we  were  again 
stopped  by  a  broad  belt  of  ice  stretching  along 
the  coast ;  this  was  a  bitter  disappointment,  more 
particularly  as  a  gale  of  wind  with  heavy  sea 


Mat,  1858.  WHALEFISH  ISLANDS.  117 

was  fast  rising,  and  snow  beginning  to  fall 
thickly ;  there  was  nothing  for  it,  however,  but 
to  stand  off  under  easy  sail  for  the  night. 

12^A. — At  anchor  at  the  Whalefish  Islands. 
On  the  evening  of  the  10th  we  stood  off  from 
the  inhospitable  barrier  of  ice,  prepared  to  meet 
the  storm  ;   snow  fell  so  thickly  that  we  could 
hardly  see  the  icebergs  in  time  to  avoid  them. 
We  supposed  ourselves  to  be  well  to  leeward  of 
the  Whalefish  Islands,  but  were  deceived  by  the 
tides ;  suddenly  a  small,  low  islet  was  seen  on 
the  lee  bow ;    not  being  able  to  pass  to  wind- 
ward, we  were  obliged  to  wear  ship,  and,  in 
doing  so,  passed  within  the    ship's   length   of 
destruction — for  we  were  certainly  within  that 
distance  of  the  rocks !     The  islet  was  covered 
with  snow,  and,  but  for  some  very  few  dark 
points  showing  through,  it  could  not  be  distin- 
guished from  ice.     On  the  11th  the  weather  im- 
proved, and  in  the  evening  we  came  to  our  pre- 
sent anchorage.     From  a  hill  we  can  watch  an 
opportunity  to  enter  Godhavn.      Notwithstand- 
ing the   blowing  weather,   some   natives  came 
about  five  miles  off  to  us  ;    the  water  washed 
over  their  little  kayaks,  and  kept  the  occupants' 
sealskin  dresses  streaming  with  wet  up  to  their 
shoulders ;  this  part  of  their  dress  seems  rather 
part  of  the  kayak,  as  it  is  attached  to  it  round 


118  MEET  THE  WHALEKS.  Chap.  VII. 

the  hole  in  which  the  hayaher  sits,  so  that  no 
water  can  enter.  It  is  wonderful  to  see  how 
closely  a  man  can  assimilate  his  habits  to  those 
of  a  fish. 

The  Danish  cooper  in  charge  of  this  out- 
station  tells  us  there  are  thirteen  English 
whalers  already  out,  and  some  of  them  have 
been  up  to  the  north  end  of  Disco ;  two  vessels 
are  in  sight.  The  world,  it  appears,  is  at  peace. 
Petersen  was  at  one  time  in  charge  of  this 
station  ;  he  is  now  seeking  out  his  old  ac- 
quaintances. 

14=th. — Summer  has  suddenly  burst  upon  us — 
thermometer  up  to  40° ;  moreover,  we  are  en- 
joying English  •  newspapers,  and  have  dined  off 
roast  beef  and  vegetables  ! 

Two  days  ago  I  sent  a  note  off  to  a  whaler 
by  a  kayak,  requesting  her  captain  to  lend  me 
some  newspapers ;  the  note  reached  Captain  J. 
Walker  of  the  i  Jane,'  and  yesterday  his  ship, 
accompanied  by  the  '  Heroine,'  Captain  J. 
Simpson,  approached  us,  and  they  both  came  in 
to  call  upon  me,  each  of  them  bringing  the  very 
acceptable  present  of  some  newspapers,  besides 
a  quarter  of  beef,  with  vegetables.  Nothing 
could  exceed  their  sincere  good  feeling  and 
kindness ;  they  offered  to  supply  me  with  any- 
thing  their    ships  could   afford.     The   account 


May,  1858.        UNUSUAL  POSITION  OF  ICE.  119 

they  give  of  last  season  is  as  follows :  the 
whalers  reached  Devil's  Point,  near  Melville 
Bay,  as  early  as  21st  May;  southerly  winds 
then  set  in,  and  blew  incessantly  for  six  weeks, 
during  all  which  time  they  were  closely  beset, 
and  the  ships  '  Gripsy '  and  '  Undaunted '  were 
crushed.  When  able  to  move,  the  fleet  returned 
southward  along  the  "  pack-edge,"  which  was 
everywhere  found  to  be  impenetrable ;  they 
sailed  southward  of  Disco,  and  about  the  middle 
of  July  the  earliest  ships  rounded  the  southern 
extremity  of  the  middle  ice  in  lat.  68 J°,  and 
found  no  difficulty  in  their  further  passage 
to  Pond's  Bay.  Captain  Walker  says  ships  could 
not  have  reached  Lancaster  Sound,  as  there 
was  much  ice  north  of  Pond's  Bay  which 
he  thought  extended  quite  across  to  Melville 
Bay. 

The  position  of  the  ice  last  season  was  con- 
sidered to  be  most  unusual ;  the  long  prevalence 
of  southerly  winds  appeared  to  have  separated 
the  tail  of  the  pack  from  the  main  body,  the 
former  lying  against  the  west  land  about  Cape 
Searle,  whilst  the  latter  was  forced  northward 
and  pressed  closely  into  Melville  Bay  ;  the  ships 
sailed  freely  between  these  two  great  divisions, 
and  found  the  west  water  unusually  extensive. 

Had  I  been  able  to  collect  a  sufficient  number 


120,         UNCERTAINTY  OF  ICE-NAVIGATION.  Chap.  VII. 

of  sledge-dogs  at  Godhavn  last  year,  it  was 
my  intention  to  have  sailed  across  to  the  west 
side  if  possible,  instead  of  pursuing  the  usual 
route  through  Melville  Bay;  but  the  opinions 
of  the  captains  of  the  lost  whalers  were  in 
favour  of  a  "  Melville  Bay "  passage,  and  the 
necessity  for  obtaining  dogs  left  me  no  choice 
as  to  whether  I  should  proceed  west,  or  north  to 
Proven  and  Upernivik  ;  I  have  already  recorded 
what  were  my  opinions  at  the  time,  so  need  only 
observe  now,  that,  although  I  failed,  I  believe 
my  decision  was  justified  by  all  former  expe- 
rience, even  independently  of  the  circumstances 
which  obliged  me  to  adopt  it.  Nevertheless 
it  is  mortifying  to  find  that  ships  had  reached 
as  far  as  Pond's  Bay,  and  with  but  little  diffi- 
culty. Sir  Edward  Parry,  upon  his  third  voyage, 
did  not  reach  the  west  water  until  very  late 
in  the  season,  although  some  of  the  whalers  met 
with  better  success  by  following  up  another 
route. 

There  is  nothing  more  uncertain  than  ice- 
navigation,  dependent  as  it  is  upon  winds,  tem- 
peratures, and  currents  :  one  can  only  calculate 
upon  "  the  chances,"  and  how  nearly  we  suc- 
ceeded we  have  already  seen.  In  the  preceding 
year  (1856)  some  of  the  whalers  got  through 
Melville  Bay  as  early  as  the  15th  June,  only 


May,  1858.        INFORMATION  OF  WHALERS.  121 

a  few  days  after  the  commencement  of  the 
summer's  thaw.  Captain  "Walker  tells  me  there 
are  many  years  in  which  the  whalers  can  pass 
up  the  western  shore  late  in  the  season,  but  not 
always  so  far  as  Pond's  Bay ;  of  Melville  Bay 
after  tne  10th  or  15th  July  they  know  nothing, 
but  the  voyages  of  discovery  afford  us  ample 
details ;  whilst  of  the  southern  route  almost 
nothing  has  been  made  publicly  known. 

There  are  many  intelligent  whaling  captains 
who  possess  much  valuable  knowledge  of  these 
lands  and  seas,  and  even  in  the  terra  incognita 
of  Frobisher's  Straits,  whalers  have  wintered, 
whilst  our  charts  scarcely  afford  even  a  vague 
idea  of  the  configuration  of  these  extensive 
islands.  The  so-called  "Home  Bay"  has  been 
penetrated  for  fifty  miles,  and  is  supposed  to  be 
a  strait  leading  to  Fox's  Furthest.  Scott's  Inlet 
is  also  said  to  be  a  strait  leading  into  a  western 
arm  of  the  same  sea.  A  surveying  vessel  would 
be  usefully  employed  for  a  couple  of  summers 
in  tracing  the  general  outline  of  these  pos- 
sessions of  Her  Majesty,  more  particularly  as 
they  are  rather  thickly  inhabited  by  Esquimaux 
most  eager  to  barter  their  produce  for  rifles, 
saws,  files,  knives,  needles,  and  such  like 
articles.  Good  coal  has  been  found  upon  Durbin 
Island  (near  Cape  Searle),  in  a  convenient  little 


122  DANISH  HOSPITALITY.  Chap.  VII. 

cove  upon  its  southern  side ;  and  as  the  old 
sailing  whalers  are  fast  being  replaced  by 
steamers,  this  place  may  become  of  great  im- 
portance to  them. 

We  are  refitting,  shooting,  and  devouring 
quantities  of  excellent  mussels ;  eider  ducks  are 
very  abundant,  but  extremely  shy.  Poor  puss 
has  been  killed ;  tempted  on  deck  by  the 
unusually  warm  weather,  she  was  pounced 
upon  by  the  dogs. 

17th. — Yesterday  our  attempt  to  enter  the 
port  of  Godhavn  failed,  it  is  still  filled  with 
ice.  This  evening  Young  and  I  examined  a 
narrow  rocky  cove — Upernivik  Bay  of  the 
natives ;  finding  it  suitable  for  our  purpose, 
the  ship  was  brought  in  and  moored  to  the 
rocks.  We  were  received  with  much  kindness 
by  our  friends,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Olrik,  and  were 
presented  with  a  file  of  late  English  papers. 
A  considerable  supply  of  beer  was  ordered  to 
be  brewed  for  us. 

I  found  Mrs.  Olrik  without  a  fire  in  her 
sitting  room,  it  was  unnecessary ;  the  windows 
looked  to  the  south,  and  the  sun  shone  brightly 
in  upon  a  profusion  of  geraniums  and  European 
flowers,  at  once  reminding  one  of  home,  and 
refreshing  the  senses  by  their  perfume  and 
beauty ;  the  merry  voices  of  the  children  were 


May,  1858.       INTERCHANGE  OF  PRESENTS.  123 

also  a  most  pleasing  novelty.  Mr.  Olrik  says 
the  past  winter  has  not  been  in  any  way  re- 
markable, except  for  the  prevalence  of  strong 
winds ;  April  and  the  early  part  of  May  have 
been  unusually  cold. 

24^A. — We  did  honour  to  Her  Majesty's  birth- 
day by  dressing  the  '  Fox 5  in  all  her  flags,  and 
regaling  her  crew  with  plum  pudding  and  grog. 
The  ice  having  moved  off,  we  have  come  into 
the  harbour  of  Godhavn,  as  being  more  con- 
venient and  safe.  The  day  has  been  a  busy 
one  :  we  have  completed  our  small  purchases 
and  closed  our  letters ;  I  have  added  another 
Esquimaux  lad  to  our  crew,  taking  with  him  his 
rifle,  kayak,  and  sledge.  This  evening  there 
has  been  a  brisk  interchange  of  presents  be- 
tween us  and  our  Danish  friends.  I  have  been 
given  an  eider-down  coverlet  by  the  Governor, 
Mr.  Andersen,  and,  by  Mrs.  Olrik,  some  delicious 
preserve  of  Greenland  cranberries,  a  tin  of  pre- 
served ptarmigan,  and  a  jar  of  pickled  whale- 
skin  ;  my  table  is  decked  with  European  flowers, 
including  roses,  mignonette,  and  violets. 

With  good  reason  shall  we  remember  God- 
havn ;  we  have  certainly  been  treated  as  espe- 
cial favourites. 

26th. — Left  Godhavn  early  yesterday  morn- 
ing, and  anchored  this   afternoon   in   our   old 


124  COALING.  Chap.  VII. 

position  off  the  Coal  Cliffs  in  the  Waigat ;  a 
party  of  seal-hunters  from  Atanekerdluk  came 
off  to  us,  and  their  hunting  having  terminated 
successfully,  they  will  assist  us  in  coaling. 
From  these  men  I  obtained  much  information 
about  this  part  of  the  coast ;  within  a  range  of 
20  miles  upon  the  Disco  shore  there  are  four 
distinct  coaling  places ;  but  at  this  early  season 
two  of  them  are  deeply  covered  with  snow. 
There  is  also  very  good  coal  at  the  S.E.  end  of 
Hare  Island,  where  it  can  easily  be  obtained. 
The  ice  in  this  strait  broke  up  as  long  ago  as 
the  3rd  April;  it  has  all  drifted  out  to  the 
northward,  only  a  few  icebergs  now  remain. 

28tfA. — Again  hastening  northward  ;  the  busi- 
ness of  coaling  was  very  speedily  and  satisfac- 
torily completed,  but  the  quality  of  the  coal  is 
very  inferior.  Upon  the  green  slopes  our 
sportsmen  found  nothing  but  a  few  ptarmigan 
and  a  hare. 

Shortly  after  running  close  past  the  deserted 
settlement  of  Noursak,  we  arrived  off  a  small 
bay,  and  were  startled  by  finding  the  water  had 
suddenly  changed  from  transparent  blue  to  a 
thick  muddy  colour,  but  there  was  no  change  in 
its  depth  ;  we  were  crossing  the  stream  of 
"  Makkaks  Elvin,"  or  Clay  River,  which  empties 
itself  into  the  bay  after  running  through  a  broad 


May,  1858.      PEOXIMITY  OF  THE  WHALEKS.  125 

and  extensive  valley,  said  to  abound  with  rein- 
deer ;  this  river  has  its  origin  in  lakes  and 
glaciers  in  the  interior,  and  the  discolouration 
of  the  water  is  probably  the  chief  cause  of  suc- 
cess in  white-whale  fishing,  which  is  carried  on 
here  in  the  autumn,  as  those  timid  animals  will 
not  permit  boats  to  approach  them  in  clear 
water. 

This  evening  we  are  crossing  Omenak's 
Fiord,  and  the  land-wind,  which  here  and  all 
along  the  coast  northwards  blows  from  the  N.E., 
has  come  off  to  us. 

31^. — Lying  fast  to  an  iceberg  off  Upernivik. 

The  whalers  are  all  within  a  dozen  miles  of 
us,  unable  to  penetrate  further  north.  The 
season  appears  forward,  and  the  ice  much  de- 
cayed ;  but  southerly  winds  prevail,  retarding 
its  disruption  and  removal.  Captain  Parker, 
of  the  '  Emma,'  tells  me  he  does  not  expect  to 
make  a  north  passage  this  year,  and  as  his  ex- 
perience extends  over  a  period  of  at  least  thirty 
years,  I  give  his  reason ;  it  is  simply  this, — 
that  as  during  the  months  of  February,  March, 
and  April  northerly  winds  prevailed  to  an  un- 
usual degree,  therefore  southerly  winds  may 
now  be  expected  to  continue ;  if  he  prove  a  pro- 
phet, it  will  be  to  our  serious  hindrance  at  this 
critical  season.      Governor   Fliescher  says  the 


126  KINDNESS  OF  THE  WHALERS.       Chap.  VII. 

winter  has  been  mild  ;  there  has  been  but  little 
wind,  and  that  chiefly  from  the  southward. 

Adh  June, — We  have  received  much  kindness 
from  our  friends  Captains  Parker  and  J.  Simp- 
son, as  well  as  from  others  of  the  whaling  fleet ; 
the  former  has  generously  supplied  us  with 
many  things  we  were  rather  short  of,  not  only 
in  ship's  stores,  but  provisions  and  coals,  and  in 
return  I  have  of  course  furnished  him  with  a 
receipt  for  his  owners.  Captain  Simpson  has 
most  handsomely  presented  the  '  Fox '  with  a 
sail  and  yards,  which,  after  some  slight  alter- 
ations, will  enable  us  to  add  a  main  topsail  to 
our  spread  of  canvas.  For  the  two  days  we  lay 
at  the  iceberg,  alongside  of  the  *  Emma,'  I  made 
furious  attacks  upon  Captain  Parker's  beef- 
steaks and  porter ;  we  amply  availed  ourselves 
of  his  hearty  welcome.  By  the  arrival  of  the 
fine  steam  whaler  '  Tay,'  from  Scotland,  we 
have  received  papers  up  to  17th  April. 

This  morning  we  slowly  steamed  away  from 
Upernivik,  threading  our  way  betwixt  islands, 
and  ice,  for  about  30  miles,  and  now  await  fur- 
ther ice  movement  before  it  will  be  possible  to 
proceed.  These  are  called  the  Woman  Islands, 
so  named  by  the  celebrated  Arctic  explorer  John 
Davis,  who  visited  them  in  Queen  Elizabeth's 
reign ;  he  found  here  only  a  few  old  women, 


June,  1S5S.        DANISH  ESTABLISHMENTS.  127 

their  frightened  lords  and  more  active  juniors 
having  effected  their  escape. 

Upon  one  of  these  islands  a  stone  was  picked 
up  some  30  years  ago,  bearing  a  Runic  inscrip- 
tion ;  it  was  sent  home  to  Copenhagen  as  a 
most  interesting  relic  of  the  early  Scandinavian 
voyagers  ;  but  nothing  was  on  it  except  the 
names  of  those  men  "  who  cleared  this  place  " 
(or  formed  a  settlement),  and  the  date,  1135. 
In  all  probability  their-  sojourn  was  extremely 
short,  perhaps  only  for  a  single  summer.  The 
Esquimaux  did  not  make  their  appearance  for 
nearly  two  centuries  later. 

After  Egede's  settlement  at  Godhaab  in 
1721,  the  Danish  trading  establishments  gradu- 
ally extended  along  the  coast,  and  Upernivik 
was  one  of  them  ;  but  it  appears  to  have  been 
soon  abandoned.  During  Napoleon's  wars  all 
the  Danish  posts  were  withdrawn,  as  the  British 
fleet  effectually  cut  off  communication  with 
Europe;  but  after  peace  was  restored  in  1815, 
the  trading  posts  were  again  resorted  to,  and 
a  new  settlement  formed  near  the  ruins  of  the 
old  one  at  Upernivik ;  it  enjoys  pre-eminence 
as  the  most  northern  abode  of  civilized  man. 


128  THE  '  FOX '  NEARLY  WRECKED.    Chap.  VIII. 


CHAPTEE  VIII. 

*  Fox  '  nearly  wrecked  —  Afloat,  and  push  ahead  —  Arctic  hair- 
breadth escapes  —  Nearly  caught  in  the  pack  —  Shooting  little 
auks  —  The  Arctic  Highlanders  —  Cape  York — Crimson  snow  — 
Struggling  to  the  westward  —  Reach  the  West-land  —  Off  the 
entrance  of  Lancaster  Sound. 

June  Sth. — Yesterday  morning  we  passed  close 
outside  Buchan  Island  ;  it  is  small  but  lofty,  its 
north  side  is  almost  precipitous,  yet  notwith- 
standing this  strong  indication  of  deep  water,  a 
reef  of  rocks  lies  about  a  mile  off  it.  I  hap- 
pened to  be  aloft  with  the  look-out-man  at  half- 
past  eight  o'clock  as  we  were  steaming  through 
a  narrow  lead  in  the  ice,  when  I  saw  a  rock 
close  ahead ;  it  was  capped  with  ice,  therefore 
was  hardly  distinguishable  from  the  floating 
masses  around ;  the  engines  were  stopped  and 
reversed,  but  there  was  neither  time  nor  room 
to  avoid  the  reef,  which  now  extended  upon 
each  side  of  us,  and  upon  which  the  ship's  bow 
stuck  fast  whilst  her  stern  remained  in  36  feet 
water  ;  the  tide  had  just  commenced  to  fall,  and 
all  our  efforts  to  haul  off  from  the  rocks  were 
ineffectual.  The  floes  lay  within  30  yards  of  us 
upon  each  side.     I  feared  their   drifting  down 


I      :'' 


o      >> 

pq    S 


M    & 

o    a 

Pi    g 


llililllllllllB  :'i:'!::::;tL!    _, ._  Jwi;^il_.._J!j3SMi!,. 


Jcjne,  1858.    THE  <  FOX '  NEAELY  WRECKED.  129 

upon  the  ship  and  turning  her  over ;  but  for- 
tunately it  was  perfectly  calm,  and  as  the  tide 
fell,  points  of  the  reef  held  them  fast.  The  ship 
continued  to  fall  over  to  starboard  ;  at  dead 
low  water  her  inclination  was  35°;  the  water 
covered* the  starboard  gunwale  from  the  main- 
mast aft,  and  reached  almost  up  to  the  after 
hatchway  ;  at  this  time  the  slightest  shake  must 
have  caused  her  to  fall  over  upon  her  side, 
when  she  would  instantly  have  filled  and  sunk. 
The  dogs,  after  repeated  ineffectual  attempts  to 
lie  upon  the  deck,  quietly  coiled  themselves  up 
upon  such  parts  of  the  lee  gunwale  as  remained 
above  water  and  went  to  sleep. 

To  me  the  moments  seemed  lengthened  out 
beyond  anything  I  could  have  imagined ;  but  at 
length  the  water  began  to  rise,  and  the  ship  to 
resume  her  upright  position.  Boats,  anchors, 
hawsers,  &c,  were  got  on  board  again  with  the 
utmost  alacrity,  and  the  ship  floated  off  unhurt 
after  having  been  eleven  hours  upon  the  reef. 
We  had  grounded  during  the  day  tide  and  were 
floated  off  by  the  night  tide,  which  upon  this 
coast  occasions  a  much  greater  rise  and  fall, — so 
far  we  were  favoured,  but  the  poor  little  '  Fox ' 
had  a  very  narrow  escape  ;  as  for  ourselves,  there 
was  not  the  slightest  cause  for  apprehension, 
three  steam  whalers  being  within  signal  distance. 


130  AFLOAT,  AND  PUSH  AHEAD.      Chap.  VIII, 

To-day  we  are  steaming  along  after  the  three 
vessels  which  passed  us  last  evening  and  dis- 
appeared round  Cape  Shackleton  during  the 
night.  The  contrast  between  our  prospects 
yesterday  and  to-day  fills  one  with  delight, — to 
be  afloat  and  advancing  unobstructedly  once 
more  is  indeed  charming. 

11th. — On  the  afternoon  of  the  8th  we  joined 
the  steamers  '  Tay,'  Captain  Deuchars  ;  -  Chase/ 
Captain  Gravill,  sen.  ;  and  '  Diana5,  G-ravill, 
jun.  After  repeated  ice-detentions,  we  have 
reached  Duck  Island.  Captain  Deuchars  says 
there  is  every  prospect  of  an  early  north  pas- 
sage ;  we  have  had  several  conversations  about 
the  Pond's  Bay  natives,  and  their  reports  of 
ships,  wrecks,  and  Europeans.  There  appears 
to  be  not  only  great  difficulty,  but  also  uncer- 
tainty, in  arriving  at  their  meaning  ;  to  form 
an  idea  of  the  time  elapsed  since  an  event,  or 
the  distance  to  the  spot  where  it  occurred,  is  a 
still  harder  task.  I  look  forward  to  our  visit  at 
Pond's  Bay  with  greatly  increased  interest. 

In  August,  1855,  when  Captain  Deuchars 
was  crossing  through  the  middle  ice,  in  latitude 
70°,  he  found  part  of  a  steamer's  topmast  em- 
bedded in  heavy  ice  ;  he  also  saw  the  moulded 
form  of  a  ship's  side,  and  thinks  the  latter 
must   have  sunk ;    the  portion  of  the  topmast 


June,  1858.    ARCTIC  HAIRBREADTH  ESCAPES.  131 

visible  was  sawed  off  and  taken  to  England. 
It  is  most  probable  that  the  vessel  was  either 
H.M.S.  '  Intrepid '  or  '  Pioneer,'  as  two  months 
later,  and  250  miles  further  south,  the  c  Resolute' 
was  picked  up.  About  two  or  three  years  ago, 
Captain*  Deuchars  lost  his  ship,  the  '  Princess 
Charlotte/  in  Melville  Bay.  It  was  a  beautiful 
morning ;  they  had  almost  reached  the  North 
Water,  and  were  anticipating  a  very  successful 
voyage  ;  the  steward  had  just  reported  break- 
fast ready,  when  Captain  Deuchars,  seeing  the 
floes  closing  together  ahead  of  the  ship,  re- 
mained on  deck  to  see  her  pass  safely  between 
them,  but  they  closed  too  quickly  ;  the  vessel 
was  almost  through,  when  the  points  of  ice 
caught  her  sides  abreast  of  the  mizenmast,  and, 
passing  through,  held  the  wreck  up  for  a  few 
minutes,  barely  long  enough  for  the  crew  to 
escape  and  save  their  boats  !  Poor  Deuchars 
thus  suddenly  lost  his  breakfast  and  his  ship  ; 
within  ten  minutes  her  royal  yards  disappeared 
beneath  the  surface.  How  closely  danger  besets 
the  Arctic  cruiser,  yet  how  insidiously  ;  every- 
thing looks  so  bright,  so  calm,  so  still,  that  it 
requires  positive  experience  to  convince  one 
that  ice  only  a  very  few  inches,  perhaps  only 
three  or  four  inches,  above  water,  perfectly  level, 
and  moving  extremely  slow,  could  possibly  en- 

k  2 


132  SUPPLY  OF  PKOVISIONS.  Chap.  VIII. 

danger  a  strong  vessel !  The  '  Princess  Char- 
lotte '  was  a  very  fine,  strong  ship,  and  her 
captain  one  of  the  most  experienced  Arctic  sea- 
men :  he  now  commands  the  finest  whaler  in 
the  fleet. 

\Ath. — We  have  only  advanced  a  few  miles  to 
the  northward.  The  steamer  *  Innuit'  has  joined 
our  small  steam  squadron.  Captain  Sutter  left 
Scotland  only  a  month  ago :  he  has  very  kindly 
and  promptly  sent  us  a  present  of  newspapers 
and  potatoes.  Captain  Deuchars  has  also  been 
good  enough  to  supply  us  with  some  potatoes 
and  porter,  perhaps  the  most  serviceable  pre- 
sent he  could  have  made  us  after  our  long  sub- 
sistence upon  salt  and  preserved  meats. 

l§th. — Once  more  alone  in  Melville  Bay. 
The  '  Innuit '  and  '  Chase  ■  steamed  much  too 
fast  for  us,  and  the  last  of  the  four  vessels,  the 
'  Tay,'  parted  from  us  in  a  thick  fog  yesterday. 
We  have  come  close  along  the  edge  of  the  fixed 
ice,  passing  about  6  miles  outside  of  the  Sabine 
Islands,  and  are  advancing  as  opportunities 
offer.  This  morning  the  man  who  was  sta- 
tioned to  watch  a  nip  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
ahead  of  the  ship,  came  running  back,  pursued 
by  three  bears — a  mother  with  her  half-grown 
cubs.  I  suppose  they  followed  him  chiefly 
because  he  ran  from  them  ;  at  all  events  thev 


June,  1858.    NEAKLY  CAUGHT  IN  THE  PACK.  133 

were  very  close  up  before  he  reached  the  ship. 
Another  bear  was  seen  about  the  same  time,  but 
none  of  them  came  within  shot.  Rotchies  (or 
little  auks)  are  very  abundant.  Seals  are  oc- 
casionally shot.  I  ate  some  boiled  seal  to-day, 
and  found  it  good  :  this  is  the  first  time  I  have 
eaten  positive  blubber ;  all  scruples  respecting  it 
henceforth  vanish. 

25th. — The  land-ice  broke  away  inshore  of 
the  '  Fox'  on  the  19th  or  20th,  and  we  found 
ourselves  drifting  southward  amongst  extensive 
fields  of  ice.  Sad  experience  has  already  shown 
us  how  absolutely  powerless  our  small  craft  is 
under  such  circumstances.  But  after  many 
attempts  we  regained  the  edge  of  the  fast 
ice  this  morning,  and  steamed  merrily  along 
it  towards  Bushnan  Island.  "When  within  a 
few  miles  a  nip  brought  us  to  a  standstill  : 
here  five  or  six  icebergs  lie  encompassed  by 
land-ice,  and  apparently  aground ;  one  of  them 
juts  out  and  has  caught  the  point  of  an  im- 
mense field  of  ice.  There  is  some  slight  move- 
ment in  the  latter,  but  not  enough  to  let  us 
pass  through. 

Twelve  or  eighteen  miles  to  the  south  there 
is  a  cluster  of  bergs,  in  all  probability  aground 
upon  our  "  70  fathom  bank  "  of  last  September. 
The  ice-field  appears  to  rest  against  them,  as 


134  ARCTIC  PERPLEXITIES.  Chap.  VIII. 

both  to  the  east  and  west  there  is  much  clear 
water.  Exactly  at  this  spot  Captain  Penny  was 
similarly  detained  by  a  nip  in  August,  1850. 
Although  progress  is  denied  to  us  at  present, 
yet  it  is  an  unspeakable  relief  to  have  got  out 
of  the  drifting  ice. 

I  have  passed  very  many  anxious  days  in 
Melville  Bay,  but  hardly  any  of  them  weighed 
so  heavily  upon  me  as  yesterday.  There  was  the 
broad,  clear  land-water  within  a  third  of  a  mile 
of  me.  clear  weather,  and  a  fair  breeze  blowing. 
The  intervening  nip  worked  sufficiently  with 
wind  and  tide  to  keep  one  in  suspense  ;  it 
nearly  opened  at  high  water,  but  closed  again 
with  the  ebb  tide.  I  thought  of  the  week 
already  spent  in  struggling  amongst  drifting 
floes,  and  was  haunted  by  visions  of  everything 
horrible — gales,  ice-crushing,  &c.  Xor  was  it 
consoling  to  reflect  that  all  the  sailing  ships  as 
well  as  the  steamers  might  have  actually  slipped 
past  us.  In  fact,  I  must  acknowledge  that 
anxiety  and  weariness  had  worked  me  up  into 
a  state  of  burning  impatience  and  of  bitter  cha- 
grin at  being  so  repeatedly  baffled  in  all  my 
efforts  by  the  varying  yet  continual  perplex- 
ities of  our  position.  The  only  difference  in 
favour  of  our  prospects  over  those  of  the  past 
year  consisted  in  our  having"  arrived  here  two 


ESQUIMAUX   IMITATING   ANIMALS   TO   INDUCE   EUROPEANS   TO   APPROACH 
From  a  Sketch  by  Captain  Allen  Young. 


June,  1858.  SHOOTING  LITTLE  AUKS.  135 

months  earlier ;  but  the  importance  of  this  dif- 
ference is  incalculable. 

The  opportunities  afforded  by  the  delays  to 
which  we  have  been  subjected  were  turned, 
however,  to  some  account.  Nearly  one  thousand 
rotchies*  were  sHot ;  they  are  excellent  eating, 
their  average  weight  is  four  ounces  and  a  half, 
but  when  prepared  for  the  table  they  probably 
do  not  yield  more  than  three  ounces  each.  A 
young  bear  imprudently  swam  up  to  the  ship, 
and  was  shot, — his  skin  fell  to  the  sportsman, 
and  carcase  to  the  dogs.  Several  others  have 
been  seen :  we  watched  one  fellow  surprise  a 
seal  upon  the  ice,  and  carry  it  about  in  his 
mouth  as  a  cat  does  a  mouse. 

27th. — Lying  fast  to  the  ice  off  the  Crimson 
Cliffs  of  Sir  John  Boss.  Yesterday  we  suc- 
ceeded in  passing  through  the  nip,  and  by 
evening  reached  Cape  York.  Seeing  natives 
running  out  upon  the  land-ice,  the  ship  was 
made  fast  for  an  hour  in  order  to  communicate 
with  them.  A  party  of  eight  men  came  on 
board  :  they  immediately  recognised  Petersen, 
for  they  lived  at  Etah  in  Smith's  Sound  when 
he  was  there  in  the  American  expedition.  They 
asked  for  Dr.  Kane,  and  told  us  Hans  was 
married  and  living  in  Whale  Sound.  They  all 
said  he  was  most  anxious  to  return  to  Green- 


136  THE  ARCTIC  HIGHLANDERS.       Chap.  VIII. 

land,  but  had  neither  sledge-dogs  nor  kayak ; 
hunger  had  compelled  him  to  eat  the  sealskin 
which  covered  the  framework  of  the  latter. 
Petersen  gave  them  messages  for  Hans  from  his 
Greenland  friends,  and  advice  that  he  should 
fix  his  residence  here,  where  he  might  see  the 
whalers  and  perhaps  be  taken  back  to  Greenland. 
The  natives  did  not  seem  to  be  badly  off  for 
anything  except  dogs,  some  distemper  having 
carried  off  most  of  these  indispensable  animals, 
I  was  therefore  unable  to  procure  any  from 
them.  These  people  spent  the  winter  here; 
they  seemed  healthy,  well-clad,  and  happy  little 
fellows.  One  of  them  is  brother-in-law  to  Eras- 
mus York,  who  voluntarily  came  to  England  in 
the  'Assistance'  in  1851.  This  man  is  an 
angekok,  or  magician ;  he  has  a  still  flatter  face 
than  the  rest  of  his  countrymen,  but  appears 
more  thoughtful  and  intelligent. 

Petersen  pointed  out  to  me  a  stout  old  fellow, 
with  a  tolerable  sprinkling  of  beard  and  mou- 
stache. This  worthy  perpetrated  the  only  mur- 
der which  has  taken  place  for  several  years  in 
the  tribe  :  he  disliked  his  victim  and  stood  in 
need  of  his  dogs,  therefore  he  killed  the  owner 
and  appropriated  his  property !  Such  motives 
and  passions  usually  govern  the  "  unsophis- 
ticated children  of  nature ;"  yet,  as  savages,  the 


June,  1858.        THE  AECTIC  HIGHLANDEKS.  137 

Esquimaux  may  be  considered  exceedingly 
harmless. 

Of  late  years  these  Arctic  Highlanders  have 
become  alarmed  by  the  rapid  diminution  of 
their  numbers  through  famine  and  disease,  and 
have  Keen  less  violent  towards  each  other  in 
their  feuds  aud  quarrels. 

The  appearance  of  these  men,  as  they  danced 
and  rolled  about  in  frantic  delight  at  our  ap- 
proach, was  wild  and  strange,  and  their  costume 
uniform  and  picturesque.  Their  long,  coarse, 
black  hair  hung  loosely  over  the  sealskin  frock, 
which  in  its  turn  overlapped  their  loose  shaggy 
bearskin  breeches,  and  these  again  came  down 
over  the  tops  of  their  sealskin  boots.  Most  of 
them  carried  a  spear  formed  out  of  the  horn  of 
a  narwhal. 

Having  distributed  presents  of  knives  and 
needles,  and  explained  to  them  that  we  did  so 
because  they  had  behaved  well  to  the  white 
people  (as  we  learn  from  Dr.  Kane's  narrative 
of  their  treatment  of  him  and  his  crew),  we 
pursued  our  voyage,  not  doubting  but  that  we 
should  soon  reach  the  North  Water,  an  extensive 
sea  through  which  we  could  sail  uninterruptedly 
to  Pond's  Bay. 

During  the  night  we  advanced  through  loose 
ice ;  but  fog  and  a  rising  S.E.  gale  delayed  us, 


133  DAMAGE  FEOM  ICE.  Chap.  VIII. 

and  to-day  the  pack  has  pressed  in  against  the 
land,  so  that  our  wings  are  most  unexpectedly 
clipped.  A  walrus  was  shot  through  the  head 
by  a  Minie  bullet ;  none  other  will  penetrate 
such  a  massive  skull  :  unfortunately  for  my 
collection  of  specimens  and  for  the  dogs,  the 
animal  sank. 

2nd  July. — For  five  days  we  have  been  almost 
beset  amongst  loose  ice  and  grounded  bergs ; 
the  winds  were  generally  from  the  S.E.  and 
accompanied  by  fog.  To  avoid  being  squeezed 
we  had  constantly  to  shift  our  position;  once 
we  were  caught  and  rather  severely  nipped ; 
the  ship  was  heeled  over  about  ten  degrees  and 
lifted  a  couple  of  feet :  the  ice  was  three  feet 
thick,  but  broke  readily  under  her  weight. 
Unfortunately  there  was  not  time  to  unship  the 
rudder,  so  it  suffered  very  severely.  Upon  a 
previous  occasion  the  screw-shaft  was  bent  and 
a  portion  of  the  screw  broken  off. 

Landed  to  obtain  a  good  view  of  the  sea  in 
the  offing ;  from  the  hills  we  could  see  nothing 
but  pack  to  seaward.  There  was  no  land  ice ; 
we  stepped  out  of  the  boat  upon  a  narrow  ice- 
foot which  fringed  the  coast ;  immediately  above 
it  we  trod  over  a  velvet  sward  of  soft  bright- 
green  moss ;  the  turf  beneath  was  of  consider- 
able depth.     Here  and  there  under  this  noble 


July,  1858.  ROTCHIES  AND  GULLS.  139 

range  of  cliffs,  which  are  composed  of  primary 
rock,  there  exists  much  vegetation  for  so  high 
a  latitude.  From  the  fact  of  thick  layers  of 
turf  descending  quite  down  to  the  sea,  it  is 
evident  that  the  land  has  been  gradually  sink- 
ing.  Steep  slopes  of  rocky  debris,  which  screen 
the  bases  of  the  most  precipitous  cliffs,  form 
secure  nurseries  for  the  little  auk ;  these  lo- 
calities were  literally  alive  with  them ;  they 
popped  in  and  out  of  every  crevice,  or  sat  in 
groups  of  dozens  upon  every  large  rock.  I  have 
nowhere  seen  such  countless  myriads  of  birds. 
The  rotchie,  or  little  auk,  lays  its  single  egg  upon 
the  bare  rock,  far  within  a  crevice  beyond  the 
reach  of  fox,  owl,  or  burgomaster  gull.  We  shot 
a  couple  of  hundred  during  our  short  stay  on 
shore,  and,  by  removing  the  stones,  gathered 
several  dozen  of  their  eggs. 

The  huge  predatory  gulls,  long  ago  named 
"  Burgomasters"  by  the  Dutch  seamen  (because 
they  lord  it  over  their  neighbours,  and  appro- 
priate everything  good  to  themselves),  have 
established  themselves  in  the  cliffs,  where  their 
nests  are  generally  inaccessible :  we  were  a 
month  too  late  for  their  eggs  ;  the  young  birds 
were  as  large  as  spring  chickeijs.  Of  course  we 
obtained  specimens  of  the  red  snow,  but  had  to 
seek  rather  diligently  for  it;  its  colour  was  a 


140  FKEE  FROM  THE  ICE.  Chap.  VIII. 

dirty  red,  very  like  the  stain  of  port  wine  : 
very  few  patches  of  it  were  found. 

Last  night  a  westerly  wind  blew  freshly  and 
dispersed  the  ice  outside  of  us,  so  much  so  that 
this  evening  we  have  got  out  into  almost  clear 
water.  Farewell,  Greenland, — hurrah  for  the 
west ! 

5th. — After  getting  free  from  the  ice  off  the 
Crimson  Cliffs,  we  soon  lost  sight  of  the  last 
fragment,  and  steered  for  Pond's  Bay.  And 
now  we  all  set  to  work  in  zealous  haste  to  write 
our  last  letters  for  England,  by  the  whalers, 
which  we  hoped  soon  to  meet  there. 

After  running  60  miles  the  ice  reappeared, 
and  we  sailed  through  a  vast  deal  of  it,  but  it 
became  more  closely  packed,  and  a  thick  fog 
detained  us  for  a  day. 

When  the  weather  became  clear,  the  main 
pack  was  seen  to  the  W,,  S.,  and  S.E.  ;  in 
the  hope  of  rounding  its  northern  extreme  we 
ran  along  it  to  the  N.W.  To-day  it  has  led 
us  to  the  N.  and  N.E.,  so  that  this  evening 
Wolstenholme  Sound  is  in  sight.  To  the  N.  the 
pack  appears  impenetrable,  and  there  is  a  strong 
ice-blink  over  it.  All  the  ice  we  have  lately 
sailed  through  is  loose,  and  much  decayed  ;  it 
seems  but  recently  to  have  broken  away  from 
the  land,  is  not  water-washed,  neither  has  it 


July,  1858.  ICE  CLOSING  AGAIN.  141 

been  exposed  to  a   swell,  the  fractured  edges 
remaining  sharp. 

6th. — Midnight.  Last  evening  I  persevered 
to  the  N.  until  every  hope  of  progress  in  that 
direction  vanished.  To  the  W.  the  pack  ap- 
peared' tolerably  loose  ;  the  wind  was  fresh  at 
E.S.E.,  so  I  determined  once  more  to  push  into 
it,  and  endeavour  to  battle  our  way  through ;  I 
hoped  it  would  prove  to  be  merely  a  belt  of  30 
or  40  miles  in  width.  We  found  the  ice  to  lie 
for  the  most  part  in  streams  at  right  angles  to 
the  wind,  and  therefore  much  more  open  than  it 
had  appeared  :  there  was  seldom  any  difficulty 
in  winding  through  it  from  one  water  space  to 
another.  The  wind  greatly  increased,  bringing 
much  rain,  but  fortunately  no  fog  ; — the  dread 
of  this  hung  over  me  like  a  nightmare, — our 
progress  depended  upon  the  vigilance  of  the 
look-out  kept  in  the  crow's-nest.  By  noon  we 
had  made  good  60  miles.  Throughout  the  day 
the  wind  has  gradually  moderated  ;  the  rain 
gave  place  to  snow,  which  in  its  turn  was  suc- 
ceeded by  mist.  The  evening  was  fine  even- 
tually and  clear ;  but  still  we  find  the  ice  is  all 
around.  Just  before  midnight  the  termination  of 
our  lead  was  discovered,  whilst  the  ice  through 
which  we  had  passed  was  closing  together,  and 
a  dense  fog  came  rolling  down.      Under  these 


142  STRUGGLING  TO  THE  WESTWARD.  Chap.  Till. 

circumstances  the  ship  was  made  fast  as  near 
to  the  nip  as  safety  permitted,  to  await  some 
favourable  change. 

10th. — All  the  7th  we  remained  in  our  small 
basin,  there  being  no  outlet  from  it,  and  but 
little  water  anywhere  visible.  To  pass  away 
the  dull  hours  and  get  rid  of  unwelcome  reflec- 
tions upon  the  similarity  of  our  present  posi- 
tion and  that  in  August  last,  I  commenced  an 
attack  upon  all  the  feathered  denizens  of  the 
pack — they  seemed  so  provokingly  contented 
with  it — but  they  soon  became  wary,  and  de- 
serted our  vicinity,  so  I  shot  only  a  dozen 
fulmar  petrels,  three  ivory  gulls,  two  looms,*  and 
a  Lestris  parasiticus ;  some  of  them  were  useful 
as  specimens,  and  such  as  were  not  destined  for 
our  table  were  given  to  the  dogs.  Although 
Cobourg  Island  was  45  miles  distant  from  us,  its 
lofty  rounded  outlines  were  very  distinct,  and 
much  covered  with  snow.  On  the  8th  we 
squeezed  through  nips  for  4  or  5  miles,  and  on 
the  9th,  reaching  a  large  space  of  water,  steamed 
towards  Cobourg  Island  until  again  stopped 
by  the  pack  at  an  early  hour  this  morning, 
when  within  5  or  6  leagues  of  it. 

This  evening  we  are  endeavouring  to  steam 


*  These  birds  are  called  willocks  at  home;  they  are  the  "Uria 
Brurmicliii "  of  naturalists. 


July,  1858.  THE  WEST-LAND.  143 

in  towards  the  West-land,  and  fancy  we  can 
trace  with  the  crow's-nest  telescope  a  practicable 
route  through  the  intervening  ice-mazes  to  a 
faint  streak  of  water  along  the  shore.  This  sort 
of  navigation  is  not  only  anxious,  but  weary- 
ing. To  me  it  seems  as  if  several  months  instead 
of  only  eight  days  had  elapsed  since  we  left  Cape 
York.  We  are  constantly  wondering  what  our 
whaling  friends  are  about,  and  where  they  are  ? 

14th. — The  faint  streak  of  water  seen  on  the 
night  of  the  10th  proved  to  be  an  extensive 
sheet  to  leeward  of  Cobourg  Island.  We  reached 
it  next  morning.  Jones'  Sound  appeared  open, 
and  a  slight  swell  reached  us  from  it,  but  all 
along  the  shore  there  was  close  pack.  Although 
but  little  water  was  visible  to  the  southward,  we 
persevered  in  that  direction,  and,  as  the  ice  was 
rapidly  moving  offshore  under  the  combined  in- 
fluence of  wind  and  tide,  we  were  only  occasion- 
ally detained. 

Two  hundred  and  forty-two  years  ago — to  a 
day,  I  believe — William  Baffin  sailed  without 
hindrance  along  this  coast  and  discovered  Lan- 
caster Sound.  What  a  very  different  season  he 
must  have  experienced ! 

Passing  near  Cape  Horsburgh  we  approached 
De  Ros  Islet  at  midnight.  The  air  being  very 
calm,  and  still,  the  shouting  of  some  natives  was 


H4  VISIT  OF  NATIVES.  Chap.  VIIL 

heard,  although  we  could  scarcely  distinguish 
them  upon  the  land-ice.  The  ship  was  made 
fast,  and  the  shouting  party,  consisting  of  three 
men,  three  women,  and  two  children,  eagerly 
came  on  board.  Only  four  individuals  remained 
on  shore. 

The  old  chief  Kal-lek  is  remarkable  amongst 
Esquimaux  for  having  a  bald  head.  He  in- 
quired by  name  for  his  friend  Captain  Ingle- 
field.  These  three  families  have  spent  the  last 
two  years  upon  this  coast,  between  Cape  Hors- 
burgh  and  Croker  Bay.  Their  knowledge  does 
not  extend  further  in  either  direction.  They 
are  natives  of  more  southern  lands,  and  crossed 
the  ice  in  Lancaster  Sound  with  dog-sledges. 
Since  the  visit  of  the  '  Phoenix'  in  '54  they 
have  seen  no  ships,  nor  have  any  wrecks  drifted 
upon  their  shores.  They  seemed  very  fat  and 
healthy,  but  complained  that  all  the  reindeer 
had  gone  away,  and  asked  if  we  could  tell 
where  they  went  to  ?  Our  presents  of  wood, 
knives,  and  needles  were  eagerly  received. 
They  assured  us  that  Lancaster  Sound  was  still 
frozen  over,  and  that  all  the  sea  was  covered 
with  pack.  After  half  an  hour's  delay  we 
steamed  onward,  and  on  reaching  a  larger  space 
of  water  our  hopes  (somewhat  depressed  by  the 
native  intelligence)  began  to  revive.     But  we 


July,  1858.  OFF  LANCASTER  SOUND.  145 

soon  found  that  our  clear  water  terminated  near 
Cape  Warrender.  Lancaster  Sound,  although 
not  frozen  over,  was  crammed  full  of  floes  and 
icebergs.  The  wind  increased  to  a  strong  gale 
from  the  east,  and  pressed  in  more  ice.  At 
length  the  ship  was  with  difficulty  made  fast 
to  a  strip  of  land-ice  a  few  miles  westward  of 
Point  Osborn.  Gradually  the  gale  subsided, 
but  not  until  the  pack  was  close  in  against  the 
land.  The  tides  kept  sweeping  it  to  and  fro,  to 
our  great  discomfort.  The  land  is  composed  of 
gneiss,  and  the  gravelly  shore  is  low.  A  few 
ducks  only  have  been  shot,  and  traces  of  rein- 
deer and  hares  seen.  Our  Melville  Bay  friends, 
the  rotchies,  are  very  rare  visitors  upon  this 
side  of  Baffin's  Bay. 

Part  of  a  ship's  timber  has  been  found  upon 
the  beach ;  it  measures  7  inches  by  8  inches,  is 
of  American  oak,  and,  although  sound,  has  long 
been  exposed  to  the  weather. 


146  OFF  CAPE  WARRENDER.  Chap.  IX. 


OHAPTEE  IX. 

Off  Cape  Warrender  —  Sight  the  whalers  again  —  Enter  Pond's 
Bay  —  Communicate  with  Esquimaux  —  Ascend  Pond's  Inlet  — 
Esquimaux  information  —  Arctic  summer  abode  —  An  Arctic 
village  —  No  intelligence  of  Franklin's  ships  —  Arctic  trading  — 
Geographical  information  of  natives  —  Information  of  Rae's  visit 
—  Improvidence  of  Esquimax  —  Travels  of  Esquimaux. 

6th  July. — To  borrow  a  whaling  phrase,  we 
are  "  dodging  about  in  a  hole  of  water "  off 
Cape  Warrender.  I  recognise  the  little  bay  just 
to  the  west  of  the  cape  where  Parry  landed  in 
September,  1824.  The  "immense  mass  of  snow 
and  ice  containing  strata  of  muddy-looking  soil " 
is  there  still,  and,  I  should  think,  had  consider- 
ably increased.  Here  his  party  shot  three  rein- 
deer out  of  a  small  herd.  We  have  narrowly 
scanned  the  steep  hill-sides  with  our  glasses,  but 
without  discovering  any  such  inducement  to 
land. 

No  cairns  are  visible  upon  Cape  Warrender ; 
the  natives  have  probably  removed  them.  Dense 
pack  prevents  us  from  approaching  Port  Dun- 
das  or  crossing  to  the  southern  shore.  We  all 
find  these  vexatious  delays  are  by  no  means 
conducive  to  sleep.     The  mind  is  busy  with  a 


July,  1858.  THE  WHALERS  AGAIN.  147 

sort  of  magic-lantern  representation  of  the  past, 
the  present,  and  the  future,  and  resists  for  weary 
hours  the  necessary  repose. 

17th.  —  Last  night's  calm  has  allowed  the 
pack  tp  expand  so  much,  that  to-day  we  have 
steamed  through  it  "until  within  three  miles  of 
the  noble  cliffs  of  Cape  Hay ;  and  now  we  are 
drifting  eastward  with  the  ice  precisely  as  did 
the  '  Enterprise '  and  '  Investigator '  in  Septem- 
ber, '49.  Upon  that  occasion  we  were  set  free 
off  Pond's  Bay.  There  is  a  very  extensive 
loomery  at  Cape  Hay ;  we  regret  the  circum- 
stances which  prevent  our  levying  a  tax  upon 
it.  Here,  if  anywhere,  I  expected  to  find  a 
clear  sea,  but  east  winds  have  prevailed  for 
twenty  days  out  of  the  last  twenty-five,  and 
this  accounts  for  the  present  state  of  the  sea ; 
the  next  succession  of  west  winds  will  probably 
effect  a  prodigious  clearance  of  ice. 

21st. — The  'Tay'  was  seen  to-day  in  loose 
ice,  and  much  further  off  the  land.  She  gra- 
dually steamed  through  it  to  the  southward, 
and  by  night  was  almost  out  of  sight.  Her 
appearance  surprised  us,  as  we  supposed  she 
must  have  reached  Pond's  Bay  long  ago.  Ten 
hours'  struggling  with  steam  and  sails  at  the 
most  favourable  intervals  has  only  advanced 
us  five  miles.   The  weather  is  remarkably  warm, 

l  2 


148  OFF  CAPE  WALTER  BATHURST.      Chap.  IX. 

bright,  and  pleasant.  A  very  large  bear  came 
within  150  yards,  and  was  shot  by  Petersen,  the 
Minie  bullet  passing  through  his  body.  This 
beast  measured  8  ft.  3  in.  in  length ;  his  fat 
carcase  was  hoisted  on  board  with  great  satis- 
faction, as  our  dogs'  food  was  nearly  expended. 

24:th. — Last  night  the  ice  became  slack  enough 
to  afford  some  prospect  of  release,  so  we  charged 
the  nips  vigorously,  and  steamed  away  through 
devious  openings  towards  Cape  Fanshawe.  For 
several  hours  but  little  progress  was  made,  but 
this  morning  the  ice  became  more  open  ;  clear 
water  was  seen  ahead,  and  reached  by  noon. 
Although  it  is  calm  I  prefer  waiting  for  a  breeze 
to  expending  more  coals.  We  are  only  ten 
miles  from  Possession  Bay.  The  air  is  so  very 
clear  that  the  land  appears  quite  close  to  us. 
All  that  is  not  mountainous  is  well  cleared  of 
snow.  There  is  immense  refraction.  Only  a 
single  iceberg  in  sight.  The  sea-water  is  light 
green,  as  remarked  by  Parry  in  1819. 

26th. — A  vessel  was  seen  yesterday  morning; 
the  day  continuing  calm,  we  steamed  through 
some  loose  ice,  and  joined  her  off  Cape  Walter 
Bathurst  in  the  evening.  It  proved  to  be  the 
'Diana;'  she  parted  from  us  on  the  16th  of 
June  in  Melville  Bay,  has  everywhere  been  ob- 
structed by  the  pack,  as  we  have  been,  and  only 


July,  1858.  ENTER  POND'S  BAY.  149 

reached  Cape  Warrender  three  days  before  us. 
From  thence  to  Possession  Bay  she  met  with  no 
obstruction.  The  subsequent  east  winds  brought 
in  all  the  ice  which  has  so  much  retarded  us. 

The  '  Diana '  has  already  captured  twelve 
whales.  Taking  the  hint  from  Capt.  G-ravill, 
we  have  made  fast  to  a  loose  floe,  and  are  drift- 
ing very  nearly  a  mile  an  hour  to  the  south- 
ward along  the  edge  of  very  formidable  land-ice, 
which  is  seven  or  eight  miles  broad.  All  to 
seaward  of  us  is  packed  ice.  The  old  whaling 
seamen  of  the  '  Diana '  are  astounded  at  the 
unusual  and  unaccountable  abundance  of  ice 
which  everywhere  fills  up  Baffin's  Bay.  All 
the  '  Diana's '  steaming-coals,  her  spare  spars, 
wood,  and  even  a  boat,  have  been  burnt  in  the 
protracted  struggle  through  the  middle  ice. 

27th. — After  putting  our  letter-bag  on  board 
the  '  Diana '  this  morning  we  steamed  on  for 
Pond's  Bay,  and  at  noon  made  fast  near  But- 
ton Point  to  the  land-ice,  which  still  extends 
across  it. 

For  four  hours  Petersen  and  I  have  been 
bargaining  with  an  old  woman  and  a  boy,  not 
for  the  sake  of  their  seal-skins,  but  in  order  to 
keep  them  in  good  humour  whilst  we  extracted 
information  from  them.  They  said  they  knew 
nothing  of  ships  or  white  people  ever  having 


150  COMMUNICATE  WITH  ESQUIMAUX.    Chap.  IX. 

been  within  this  inlet,  nor  of  any  wrecked  ships. 
They  knew  of  the  depot  of  provisions  left 
at  Navy  Board  Inlet  by  the  'North  Star,'  but 
had  none  of  them.  The  woman  has  traced  on 
paper  the  shores  of  the  inlet  as  far  as  her  know- 
ledge extends,  and  has  given  me  the  name  of 
every  point.  She  says  the  ice  will  break  up 
with  the  first  fresh  wind.  These  two  individuals 
are  alone  here.  They  remained  on  purpose  to 
barter  with  the  whalers,  and  cannot  now  rejoin 
their  friends,  who  are  only  25  miles  up  the  in- 
let, because  the  ice  is  unsafe  to  travel  over  and 
the  land  precipitous  and  impracticable. 

This  afternoon  the  '  Tay '  stood  in  towards  us, 
and  Captain  Deu chars  kindly  sent  his  boat  on 
board  with  an  offer  to  take  charge  of  our  letters. 
The  ■  Tay '  reached  this  coast  only  a  few  days 
ago,  having  met  with  the  same  difficulties  which 
we  experienced.  The  c  Innuit '  was  last  seen 
nearly  a  month  ago  beset  off  Jones'  Sound. 
The  remaining  steamer,  the  6  Chase,'  has  not 
been  seen  or  heard  of. 

29th. — The  old  woman's  denial  of  all  know- 
ledge of  wrecks  or  cast-away  men  was  very 
unsatisfactory.  I  determined  to  visit  her  coun- 
trymen at  their  summer  village  of  Kaparok- 
tolik,  which  she  described  as  being  only  a  short 
day's  journey  up  the  inlet. 


July,  1858.        EXAMINE  NATIVE  CACHES.  151 

Petersen  and  one  man  accompanied  me.  We 
started  yesterday  morning  with  a  sledge  and  a 
Halkett  boat.  Although  the  ice  over  which  we 
purposed  travelling  broke  away  from  the  land 
soon  after  setting  out,  yet  we  managed  to  get 
half  way  to  the  village  before  encamping.  This 
morning  we  learnt  the  truth  of  the  old  woman's 
account.  A  range  of  precipitous  cliffs  rising 
from  the  sea  cut  us  off  by  land  from  Kaparok- 
tolik,  so  we  were  obliged  to  return  to  the  ship. 
Our  walk  afforded  the  opportunity  of  examining 
some  native  encampments  and  caches.  We 
found  innumerable  scraps  of  seal-skins,  bird- 
skins,  walrus  and  other  bones,  whalebone,  blub- 
ber, and  a  small  sledge.  The  latter  was  very 
old,  and  composed  of  pieces  of  wood  and  of 
large  bones  ingeniously  secured  together  with 
strips  of  whalebone.  Five  preserved-meat  tins 
were  found;  some  of  them  retaining  their  original 
coating  of  red  paint.  Doubtless  these  were  part 
of  the  spoils  from  Navy  Board  Inlet  depot.  The 
total  absence  of  fresh  wood  or  iron  was  strongly 
in  favour  of,  the  old  woman's  veracity.  Since 
yesterday,  ice,  about  16  miles  in  extent,  has 
broken  up  in  the  inlet,  and  is  drifting  out  into 
Baffin's  Bay. 

During  my  absence  our  shooting  parties  have 
twice    visited    a   loomery   upon    Cape    Graham 


152  HOME  FLOWERS.  Chap.  IX. 

Moore,  and  each  time  have  brought  on  board 
300  looms.  Very  few  birds  and  no  other  ani- 
mals were  seen  during  our  walk  over  the  rich 
mossy  slopes  to-day.  I  saw  a  pair  of  Canadian 
brown  cranes,  the  first  of  the  species  I  have 
ever  seen  so  far  north,  though  Sir  Robert 
M'Clure  found  them,  I  know,  on  Bank's  Land. 

The  lands  enjoying  a  southern  aspect,  even 
to  the  summits  of  hills  700  or  800  feet  in 
height,  were  tinged  with  green  ;  but  these  hills 
were  protected  by  a  still  loftier  range  to  the 
north.  Upon  many  well-sheltered  slopes  we 
found  much  rich  grass.  All  the  little  plants 
were  in  full  flower;  some  of  them  familiar  to 
us  at  home,  such  as  the  buttercup,  sorrel,  and 
dandelion.  I  have  never  found  the  latter  to 
the  north  of  69°  before. 

The  old  woman  is  much  less  excited  to-day  ; 
she  says  there  was  a  wreck  upon  the  coast  when 
she  was  a  little  girl ;  it  lies  a  day  and  a  half's 
journey,  about  45  miles,  to  the  north ;  and 
came  there  without  masts  and  very  much 
crushed ;  the  little  which  now  remains  is  almost 
buried  in  the  sand.  A  piece  of  this  wreck  was 
found  near  her  abode, — she  has  neither  hut  nor 
tent,  but  a  sort  of  lair  constructed  of  a  few 
stones  and  a  seal-skin  spread  over  them,  so  that 
she  can  crawl  underneath.      This  fragment  is 


July,  1858.  ASCEND  POND'S  INLET.  153 

part  of  a  floor  timber,  English  oak,  7^  inches 
thick  ;  it  has  been  brought  on  board. 

30th. — A  gale  of  wind  and  deluge  of  rain 
has  detained  the  ship  until  this  evening  ;  we  are 
now  steaming  up  the  inlet,  having  the  old  lady 
and  the  boy  on  board  as  our  pilots  ;  they  are  de- 
lighted at  the  prospect  of  rejoining  their  friends, 
from  whom  they  were  effectually  cut  off  until 
the  return  of  winter  should  freeze  a  safe  path- 
way for  them ;  they  had,  however,  abundance 
of  looms  stored  up  en  cache  for  their  subsistence. 
She'  has  drawn  me  another  chart,  much  more 
neatly  than  the  former,  but  so  like  it  as  to 
prove  that  her  geographical  knowledge,  and 
not  her  powers  of  invention,  have  been  taxed. 
She  is  a  widow ;  her  daughter  is  married,  and 
lives  at  a  place  called  Igloolik,  which  is  six  or 
seven  days'  journey  from  here, — three  days  up 
the  inlet,  then  about  three  days  overland  to  the 
southward,  and  then  a  day  over  the  ice. 

Thinking  it  not  quite  impossible  that  this 
Igloolik  might  be  the  place  where  Parry  win- 
tered in  1822-3,  I  told  Petersen  to  ask  whether 
ships  had  ever  been  there  ?  She  answered, 
"  Yes,  a  ship  stopped  there  all  one  winter  ;  but 
it  is  a  long  time  ago."  All  she  could  distinctly 
recollect  having  been  told  about  it  was,  that 
one  of  the  crew  died,  and  was  buried  there,  and 


154  ESQUIMAUX  INFORMATION.  Chap.  IX. 

his  name  was  Al-lah  or  El-leh.  On  referring 
to  Parry's  '  Narrative,'  I  found  that  the  ice-mate, 
Mr,  Elder,  died  at  Igloolik !  This  is  a  very 
remarkable  confirmation  of  the  locality, — for 
there  are  several  places  called  Igloolik.  She 
also  told  us  it  was  an  island,  and  near  a  strait 
between  two  seas.  The  Esquimaux  take  con- 
siderable pains  to  learn,  and  remember  names ; 
this  woman  knows  the  names  of  several  of  the 
whaling  captains,  and  the  old  chief  at  De  Eos 
Islet  remembered  Captain  Inglefield's  name,  and 
tried  hard  to  pronounce  mine. 

She  now  told  us  of  another  wreck  upon  the 
coast,  but  many  days'  journey  to  the  south  of 
Pond's  Bay ;  it  came  there  before  her  first 
child  was  born.  Her  age  is  not  less  than  forty- 
five. 

August  4Jh. — Our  Esquimaux  friends  have 
departed  from  us  with  every  demonstration  of 
friendship,  to  return  to  their  village.  We  have 
had  free  communication  with  them  for  four 
days— not  only  through  Mr.  Petersen,  but  also 
through  our  two  Greenlanders ;  the  result  is, 
that  they  have  no  knowledge  whatever  of 
either  the  missing  or  the  abandoned  searching 
ships.  Neither  wrecked  people  nor  wrecked 
ships  have  reached  their  shores.  They  seemed 
to  be  much  in  want  of  wood  ;    most  of  what 


Aug.  1858.       TOOLS  USED  BY  ESQUIMAUX.  155 

they  have  consists  of  staves  of  casks,  probably 
from  the  Navy  Board  Inlet  depot. 

In  their  bartering  with  us,  saws  were  most 
eagerly  sought  for  in  exchange  for  narwhal's 
horns  ;  they  are  used  by  them  in  cutting  up  the 
long  strips  of  the  bones  of  whales  with  which 
they  shoe  the  runners  of  their  sledges,  also  the 
ivory  and  bone  used  to  protect  the  more  ex- 
posed parts  of  their  kayaks  and  the  edges  of 
their  paddles  from  the  ice. 

Files  were  also  in  great  demand,  and  I  found 
were  required  to  convert  pieces  of  iron-hoop 
into  arrow  and  spear-heads.  If  any  suspicion 
existed  of  their  having  a  secret  supply  of 
wood  such  as  a  wreck  or  even  a  boat  would 
afford,  it  was  removed  by  their  refusing  to 
barter  the  most  trifling  things  for  axes  or 
hatchets. 

But  I  must  relate  the  events  of  the  last  few 
days  as  they  occurred.  When  17  miles  within 
the  inlet  we  reached  the  unbroken  ice  and 
made  the  ship  fast.  Here  the  strait — originally 
named  Pond's  Bay,  and  more  recently  Eclipse 
Sound — appears  to  be  most  contracted,  its  width 
not  exceeding  7  or  8  miles.  Both  its  shores 
are  very  bold  and  lofty,  often  forming  noble 
precipices.     The  prevailing  rock  is  grey  gneiss, 


156  ABCTIC  SUMMER  ABODES.  Chap.  IX. 

generally  dipping  at  an  angle  of  35°  to  the 
west. 

Early  on  the  1st  of  August  I  set  out  for  the 
native  village  with  Hobson,  Petersen,  two 
men,  and  the  two  natives  from  Button  Point. 
Eight  miles  of  wet  and  weary  ice-travelling, 
which  occupied  as  many  hours,  terminated  our 
journey  ;  the  surface  of  the  ice  was  everywhere 
deeply  channelled,  and  abundantly  flooded  by 
the  summer's  thaw  :  we  were  almost  constantly 
launching  our  small  boat  over  the  slippery 
ridges  which  separated  pools  or  channellings 
through  which  it  was  generally  necessary  to 
wade. 

After  toiling  round  the  base  of  a  precipice, 
we  came  rather  suddenly  in  view  of  a  small 
semicircular  bay  •  the  cliffs  on  either  side  were 
800  or  900  feet  high,  remarkably  forbidding 
and  desolate ;  the  mouth  of  a  valley  or  wide 
mountain  gorge  opens  out  into  its  head.  Here, 
in  the  depth  of  the  bay,  upon  a  low  flat  strip  of 
land,  stood  seven  tents, — the  summer  village  of 
Kaparok-to-lik.  I  never  saw  a  locality  more 
characteristic  of  the  Esquimaux  than  that  which 
they  have  here  selected  for  their  abode  ; — it  is 
wildly  picturesque  in  the  true  Arctic  applica- 
tion of  the  term. 


1 


Aug.  1858.  AN  AKCTIC  VILLAGE.  157 

Although  August  had  arrived,  and  the  sum- 
mer had  been  a  warm  one,  the  bay  was  still 
frozen  over  ;  and  if  there  was  an  ice-covered 
sea  in  front,  there  was  also  abundance  of  ice- 
covered  land  in  the  rear — a  glacier  occupied 
the  whole  valley  behind,  and  to  within  300 
yards  of  the  chosen  spot ! 

The  glacier  s  height  appeared  to  be  from  150 
to  200  feet ;  its  sea-face  extending  across  the 
valley, — a  probable  width  of  300  or  400  yards, — 
was  quite  perpendicular,  and  fully  100  feet  high. 
All  last  winter's  snow  had  thawed  away  from 
off  it  and  exposed  a  surface  of  mud  and  stones, 
fissured  by  innumerable  small  rivulets,  which 
threw  themselves  over  the  glacier  cliffs  in  pretty 
cascades,  or  shot  far  out  in  strong  jets  from 
their  deeply  serried  channels  in  its  face  ;  whilst 
other  streamlets  near  the  base  burst  out  through 
sub-glacial  tunnels  of  their  own  forming. 

What  a  strange  people  to  confine  themselves 
to  such  a  mere  strip  of  beach !  Upon  each  side 
they  have  towering  rocky  hills  rising  so  abruptly 
from  the  sea,  that  to  pass  along  their  bases  or 
ascend  over  their  summits,  is  equally  impos- 
sible ;  whilst  a  threatening  glacier  immediately 
behind,  bears  onward  a  sufficient  amount  of 
rock  and  earth  from  the  mountains  whence  it 


158  AN  ARCTIC  VILLAGE.  Chap.  IX. 

issues,  to  convince  even  the  unreflecting  savage 
of  its  progressive  motion. 

The  land  is  devoid  of  game,  although  lem- 
mings and  ermines  are  tolerably  numerous ;  it 
only  supplies  the  moss  which  the  natives  burn 
with  blubber  in  their  lamps,  and  the  dry  grass 
which  they  put  in  their  boots ;  even  the  soft 
stone,  lapis  ollaris,  out  of  which  their  lamps 
and  cooking  vessels  are  made,  and  the  iron 
pyrites  with  which  they  strike  fire,  are  obtained 
by  barter  from  the  people  inhabiting  the  land 
to  the  west  of  Navy  Board  Inlet.  But  the 
sea  compensates  for  every  deficiency.  The  as- 
sembled population  amounted  to  only  25  souls  : 
9  men,  the  rest  women  and  children. 

All  of  them  evinced  extreme  delight  at  seeing 
us ;  as  we  approached  the  huts  the  women  and 
children  held  up  their  arms  in  the  air  and 
shouted  "  Pilletay"  (give  me),  incessantly; 
the  men  were  more  quiet  and  dignified,  yet  lost 
no  opportunity,  either  when  we  declined  to 
barter,  or  when  they  had  performed  any  little 
service,  to  repeat  "  Pilletay  in  a  beseeching 
tone  of  voice. 

We  walked  everywhere  about  the  tents  and 
entered  some  of  them,  carefully  examining  every 
chip  or  piece  of  metal  ;  our  visit  was  quite  un- 


Aug.  1858.    NO  INTELLIGENCE  OP  FRANKLIN.  159 

expected.  They  had  only  two  sledges;  both 
were  made  of  2^-inch  oak-planks,  devoid  of 
bolt-holes  or  treenails,  and  having  but  very 
few  nail-holes.  These  sledges  had  evidently 
been  constructed  for  several  years,  the  parts 
not  exposed  to  friction  were  covered  with  green 
fungus:  one  of  them  measured  14  feet  long, 
the  other  about  9  feet ;  we  were  told  the  wood 
came  from  a  wreck  to  the  southward  of  Pond's 
Bay.  Most  of  the  sledge  crossbars  were  ordi- 
nary staves  of  casks.  Amongst  the  poles  and 
large  bones  which  supported  the  tents  we 
noticed  a  painted  fir  oar.  Some  pieces  of  iron- 
hoop  and  a  few  preserved-meat  tins — one  of 
which  was  stamped  "  Goldner," — completed  their 
stock  of  European  articles. 

Petersen  questioned  all  the  men  separately  as 
to  their  knowledge  of  skips  or  wrecks ;  but  their 
accounts  only  served  to  confirm  the  old  woman's 
story.  None  of  them  had  ever  heard  of  ships 
or  wrecks  anywhere  to  the  westward.  Both 
individually  and  collectively  we  got  them  to 
draw  charts  of  the  various  coasts  known  to 
them,  and  to  mark  upon  them  the  positions  of 
the  wrecks.  The  two  chiefs,  Noo-luk  and 
A-wah-lah,  soon  made  themselves  known  to  me, 
and,  when  we  desired  to  go  to  sleep,  sent  away 


160  THE  CHIEF  A-WAH-LAH.  Chap.  IX 

the  people  who  were  eagerly  pressing  round 
our  tent.  All  these  natives  were  better-looking, 
cleaner,  and  more  robust  than  I  expected  to 
find  them. 

A-wah-lah  has  been  to  Igloolik ;  one  of  his 
wives,  for  each  chief  has  two,  has  a  brother 
living  there.  I  spread  a  large  roll  of  paper 
upon  a  rock,  and  got  him  to  draw  the  route 
overland,  and  also  round  by  the  coast  to  it ;  this 
novel  proceeding  attracted  the  whole  population 
about  us ;  A-wah-lah  constantly  referred  to 
others  when  his  memory  failed  him ;  at  length 
it  was  completed  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties. 
When  I  gave  him  the  knife  I  had  promised  as 
his  reward,  and  added  another  for  his  wives,  he 
sprang  up  on  the  rock,  flourished  the  knives  in 
his  hands,  shouted,  and  danced  with  extravagant 
demonstrations  of  joy.  He  is  a  very  fine  spe- 
cimen of  his  race,  powerful,  impulsive,  full  of 
energy  and  animal  spirits,  and  moreover  an  ad- 
mirable mimic.  The  men  were  all  about  the 
same  height,  5  feet  5  in. ;  they  eagerly  an- 
swered our  questions,  and  imparted  to  us  all 
their  geographical  knowledge,  although  at  first 
they  hesitated  when  we  asked  them  about  Navy 
Board  Inlet,  in  consequence  of  the  depot  placed 
there  having   been    plundered ;    but   we    soon 


Aug.  1858.  AGAIN  IN  DANGER.  161 

found  that  they  were  easily  tired  under  cross- 
examination,  and  often  said  they  knew  no  more  ; 
it  was  necessary  to  humour  them. 

According  to  their  account  the  depot  was 
discovered  and  robbed  by  people  living  further 
west..-  This  is  probably  true,  as  so  few  relics 
were  to  be  seen  here,  which  would  not  be  the 
case  if  such  active  fellows  as  A-wah-lah  and 
Noo-luk  had  received  the  first  information  of 
its  proximity.  These  people  of  Kaparoktolik 
are  the  only  inhabitants  of  the  land  lying 
eastward  of  Navy  Board  Inlet,  and  live  en- 
tirely upon  its  southern  shore.  In  a  similar 
manner,  it  is  only  the  southern  coast  of  the 
land  to  the  west  of  Navy  Board  Inlet  that  is 
inhabited.  After  distributing  presents  to  all 
the  women  and  children,  and  making  a  few 
trifling  purchases  from  the  men,  we  returned 
next  day  to  the  ship. 

During  my  absence  more  ice  had  broken 
away,  involving  the  ship  and  almost  forcing  her 
on  shore.  It  required  every  exertion  to  save 
her.  For  two  hours  she  continued  in  imminent 
danger,  and  was  only  saved  by  the  warping  and 
ice-blasting,  by  which  at  last  she  got  clear  of  the 
drifting  masses,  four  minutes  only  before  these 
were  crushed  up  against  the  rocks ! 

Four  Esquimaux  came  off  to  the  ship  in  their 

M 


162  GEOGRAPHICAL  INFORMATION       Chap.  IX. 

kayaks,  bringing  whalebone,  narwhals'  horns, 
&c,  to  barter.  Next  to  handsaws  and  files,  they 
attached  the  greatest  value  to  knives  and  large 
needles.  These  men  remained  on  board  for 
nearly  two  days,  and  drew  several  charts  for 
ns.  Noo-luk  explained  that  seven  or  eight 
days'  journey  to  the  southward  there  are  two 
wrecks  a  short  day's  journey  apart.  The  south- 
ern is  in  an  inlet  or  strait  which  contains 
several  islands,  but  here  his  knowledge  of  the 
coast  terminates.  The  man  A-ra-neet  said  he 
visited  these  wrecks  five  winters  ago.  All  of 
them  agreed  that  it  is  a  very  long  time  since 
the  wrecks  arrived  upon  the  coast ;  and  Noo- 
luk,  who  appears  to  be  about  forty-five  years 
of  age,  showed  us  how  tall  he  was  at  the  time. 

In  the  '  Narrative  of  Parry's  Second  Voyage,' 
at  p.  437,  mention  is  made,  of  the  arrival  at 
Igloolik  of  a  sledge  constructed  of  ship-timber 
and  staves  of  casks  ;  also  of  two  ships  that  had 
been  driven  on  shore,  and  the  crews  of  which 
went  away  in  boats.  In  August,  1821,  nearly 
two  years  previous  to  the  arrival  of  this  report 
through  the  Esquimaux  to  Igloolik,  the  whalers 
'  Dexterity  '  and  ■  Aurora '  were  wrecked  upon 
the  west  coast  of  Davis'  Strait,  in  lat.  72°,  70  or 
80  miles  southward  of  Pond's  Bay.  The  old 
man,  Ow-wang-noot,  drew  the  coast-line  north- 


Aug.  1858.  OF  NATIVES.  163 

wards  from  Cape  Graham  Moore  to  Navy 
Board  Inlet,  and  pointed  out  the  position  of 
the  northern  wreck  a  few  miles  east  of  Cape 
Hay.  Had  it  been  conspicuous,  we  must  have 
seen  it  when  we  slowly  drifted  along  that  coast. 

These  people  usually  winter  in  snow-huts  at 
Green  Point,  a  mile  or  two  within  the  northern 
entrance  of  Pond's  Bay.  They  hunt  the  seal 
and  narwhal,  but  when  the  sea  becomes  too 
open  they  retire  to  Kaparoktolik ;  and  when 
the  remaining  ice  breaks  up — usually  about  the 
middle  of  August — a  further  migration  takes 
place  across  the  inlet  to  the  S.W.,  where  rein- 
deer abound,  and  large  salmon  are  numerous 
in  the  rivers.  Every  winter  they  communicate 
with  the  Igloolik  people.  Two  winters  ago 
(1856-7)  some  people  who  live  far  beyond 
Igloolik,  in  a  country  called  A-ka-nee  (pro- 
bably the  Ak-koo-lee  of  Parry),  brought  from 
there  the  information  of  white  people  having 
come  in  two  boats,  and  passed  a  winter  in 
snow-huts  at  a  place  called  by  the  following 
names  :— A-mee-lee-oke,  A-wee-Kk,  Net-tee-lik. 

Our  friends  pointed  to  our  whale-boat,  and  said 
the  boats  of  the  white  people  were  like  it,  but 
larger.  These  whites  had  tents  inside  their 
snow-huts;  they  killed  and  eat  reindeer  and 
narwhal,  and  smoked  pipes  ;  they  bought  dresses 

M  2 


164  INFORMATION  OF  RAE'S  VISIT.        Chap.  IX. 

from  the  natives ;  none  died ;  in  summer  they 
all  went  away,  taking  with  them  two  natives,  a 
father  and  his  son.  We  could  not  ascertain  the 
name  of  the  white  chief,  nor  the  interval  of  time 
since  they  wintered  amongst  the  Esquimaux, 
as  our  friends  could  not  recollect  these  par- 
ticulars.* 

The  name  of  the  locality,  A-wee-lik  (spelt  as 
written  down  at  the  moment),  may  be  considered 
identical  with  "  Ay-wee-lik,"  the  name  of  the 
land  about  Repulse  Bay  in  the  chart  of  the 
Esquimaux  woman,  Iligliuk  (Parry's  '  Second 
Voyage/  p.  197). 

We  were  of  course  greatly  surprised  to  find 
that  Dr.  Rae's  visit  to  Repulse  Bay  was  known 
to  this  distant  tribe ;  and  also  disappointed  to 
find  they  had  heard  nothing  of  Franklin's  Back- 
River  parties  through  the  same  channel  of  com- 
munication. They  were  anxiously  and  repeat- 
edly questioned,  but  evidently  had  not  heard  of 
any  other  white  people  to  the  westward,  nor  of 
their  having  perished  there. 

Ow-wang-noot  lived  at  Igloolik  in  his  early 
days,  and  made  a  chart  of  the  lands  adjacent, 
but  said  he  was  so  young  at  the  time  that  "  it 
seemed   like   a   dream   to  him."      He  was  ac- 


*  Dr.  Rae  wintered  at  Repulse  Bay  in  stone  huts  in  1846-7.     Again 
wintered  there  in  snow  huts  in  1853-4. 


Aug.  1858.  BARTER  WITH  NATIVES.  165 

quainted  with  Ee-noo-lo5-apik,  the  Esquimaux 
who  once  accompanied  Captain  Penny  to  Aber- 
deen, and  told  us  he  had  died,  lately  I  think,  at 
a  place  to  the  southward  called  Kri-merk-su- 
malek,  but  that  his  sister  still  lives  at  Igloolik. 

Although  they  told  us  the  Igloolik  people 
were  worse  off  for  wood  than  they  were  them- 
selves, yet  it  was  evident  that  here  also  it  is 
very  scarce.  "We  could  not  spare  them  light 
poles  or  oars  such  as  they  were  most  desirous  to 
obtain  for  harpoon  and  lance  staves  and  tent- 
poles  ;  and  they  would  willingly  have  bartered 
their  kayaks  to  us  for  rifles  (having  already  ob- 
tained some  from  the  whaling-ships),  but  that 
they  had  no  other  means  of  getting  back  to 
their  homes,  nor  wood  to  make  the  light  frame- 
work of  others. 

They  collect  whalebone  and  narwhals'  horns 
in  sufficient  quantity  to  carry  on  a  small  barter 
with  the  whalers.  A-wah-lah  showed  us  about 
thirty  horns  in  his  tent,  and  said  he  had  many 
more  at  other  stations.  A  few  years  ago,  when 
first  this  bartering  sprang  up,  an  Esquimaux 
took-  such  a  fancy  to  a  fiddle  that  he  offered  a 
large  quantity  of  whalebone  in  exchange  for  it. 
The  bargain  was  soon  made,  and  subsequently 
this  whalebone  was  sold  for  upwards  of  a  hun- 
dred pounds !     Each  successive  year,  when  the 


166  TEMPTATIONS  TO  BARTER.  Chap.  IX. 

same  ship  returns  to  Pond's  Bay,  this  native 
comes  on  board  to  visit  his  friends,  and  goes  on 
shore  with  many  presents  in  remembrance  of 
the  memorable  transaction.  It  is  much  better 
for  him  thus  to  receive  annual  gifts  than  to 
have  received  a  large  quantity  at  first,  as  the 
improvidence  of  these  men  surpasses  belief. 

Of  the  u  rod  of  iron  about  four  feet  long,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  at  one  time  galvanised," 
which  was  brought  home  in  1856  by  Captain 
Patterson,  and  forwarded  to  the  Admiralty,  I 
could  obtain  no  information.  The  natives  were 
shown  galvanised  iron,  and  said  they  had  never 
seen  any  before ;  if  their  countrymen  had  any, 
it  must  have  come  from  the  whalers ;  none  like 
it  was  found  in  the  wrecks.  Eod-iron  is  very 
valuable  to  Esquimaux  for  spears  and  lances, 
and  narwhals'  horns  very  tempting  to  the  sea- 
men, not  only  as  valuable  curiosities,  but  the 
ivory  is  worth  half-a-crown  a  pound ;  and 
I  have  but  little  doubt  that  many  of  the  things 
said  to  have  been  stolen  by  the  natives  were 
fraudulently  bartered  away  by  the  sailors.  That 
there  was  no  galvanised  iron  on  board  any  of 
the  Government  searching-ships,  nor  in  the 
missing  expedition  which  sailed  from  England 
as  far  back  as  1845,  I  am  almost  certain.  But 
is  it  certain  that  this  iron  rod  was  galvanised  ? 


Aug.  1858.  TRAVELS  OF  ESQUIMAUX.  167 

The  natives  gave  Captain  Patterson  to  under- 
stand that  they  got  it  from  the  wreck  to  the 
north. 

In  July,  1854,  Captain  Deuchars  was  at  Pond's 
Bay,  and  many  natives  visited  his  ship,  coming 
over  the  ice  on  twelve  or  fourteen  sledges  made 
of  ship's  planking.  Now  at  this  time  Sir  Ed- 
ward Belcher's  ships  were  still  frozen  up  in 
Barrow  Strait.  My  own  impression  is  that  the 
natives  whom  Captain  Deuchars  communicated 
with  in  1854  were  visitors  at  Pond's  Bay — 
certainly  from  the  southward  —  and  probably 
attracted  by  the  barter  recently  grown  up  at 
that  whaling  rendezvous.  Having  discovered 
the  use  of  the  saws  obtained  by  barter  from  our 
whalers,  they  had  successfully  applied  them  to 
the  stout  planking  of  the  old  wrecks,  which  they 
could  not  have  stripped  off  with  any  tools  pre- 
viously in  their  possession. 

That  the  various  tribes,  or  rather  groups  of 
families,  occasionally  visit  each  other,  sometimes 
for  change  of  hunting-grounds,  but  more  fre- 
quently for  barter,  is  well  known.  Captain 
Parker  told  me  that  a  native  whom  he  had  met 
one  summer  at  Durbin  Island,  came  on  board 
his  ship  at  Pond's  Bay  the  following  year.  The 
distance  between  the  two  places,  as  travelled  by 
this  man  in  a  single  winter,  is  scarcely  short  of 


168  TRAVELS  OF  ESQUIMAUX..  Chap.  IX, 

500  miles ;  and  the  information  given  us  of 
Rae's  wintering  at  Repulse  Bay,  information 
which  must  have  travelled  here  in  two  winters, 
shows  that  these  natives  communicate  at  still 
greater  distances. 

Did  other  wrecks  exist  nearer  at  hand,  our 
Pond's  Bay  friends  would  be  much  better  sup- 
plied with  wood.  If  the  Esquimaux  knew  of 
any  within  300,  400,  or  even  500  miles,  the 
Pond's  Bay  natives  would  at  least  have  heard 
of  them,  and  could  have  had  no  reason  for 
concealing  it  from  us.  I  only  regret  that  we 
had  not  the  good  fortune  to  see  more  than  a 
few  natives,  and  but  two  sledges  of  ship's 
planking ;  otherwise  our  own  information  might 
have  been  more  copious,  and  the  origin  of  the 
fresh  supply  of  planking  decisively  ascertained. 


Aug.  1858.  LEAVE  POND'S  BAY.  169 


CHAPTER  X. 

Leave  Pond's  Bay-^-A  gale  in  Lancaster,  Sound  —  The  Beechey 
Island  depot — An  Arctic  monument  —  Reflections  at  Beechey 
Island  —  Proceed  up  Barrow's  Strait  —  Peel  Sound  —  Port  Leo- 
pold —  Prince  Eegent's  Inlet  —  Bellot  Strait  —  Flood- tide  from 
the  west  —  Unsuccessful  efforts  —  Fox's  Hole  —  No  water  to 
the  west  —  Precautionary  measures  —  Fourth  attempt  to  pass 
through. 

6th  Aug. — Continued  calms  have  delayed  us. 
This  evening  we  steamed  from  Pond's  Bay 
northward,  although  our  coals  have  been  sadly 
reduced  by  the  almost  constant  necessity  for 
steam-power  since  leaving  the  Waigat.  The 
three  steam-whalers  have  gone  southward ; 
none  others  have  arrived.  They  appear  to  us 
to  be  leaving  the  whales  behind  them ;  we  saw 
many  whilst  up  the  strait,  and  at  the  edge 
of  the  remaining  ice.  The  natives  said  they 
would  remain  as  long  as  the  ice  remained,  but 
when  it  all  broke  up  they  would  return  into 
Baffin's  Bay  and  go  southward ;  and  that  these 
animals  arrive  in  early  spring,  and  do  not  pass 
through  the  strait  into  any  other  sea  beyond. 

Monday  evening,  9th. — On  the  night  of  the 
6th  a  pleasant  fair  breeze  sprang  up,  and  en- 
abled us  to  dispense  with  the  engine.     An  im- 


170  GALE  IN  LANCASTER  SOUND.  Chap.  X. 

mense  bear  was  shot;  he  measured  8  feet  7 
inches  in  length,  and  is  destined  for  the  museum 
of  the  Koyal  Dublin  Society.  On  the  7th  the 
wind  gradually  freshened  and  frustrated  my 
intention  of  examining  the  wreck  spoken  of 
near  Cape  Hay ;  at  night  it  increased  to  a 
very  heavy  gale.  Although  past  Navy  Board 
Inlet,  very  little  ice  had  yet  been  met  with. 
The  weather,  and  fear  of  ice  to  leeward, 
obliged  us  to  heave  the  vessel  to,  under  main 
trysail  and  fore  staysail.  The  squalls  were  ex- 
tremely violent  and  seas  unusually  high. 

All  Sunday,  the  8th,  the  gale  continued,  al- 
though not  with  such  extreme  force ;  the  deep 
rolling  of  the  ship,  and  moaning  of  the  half- 
drowned  dogs  amidst  the  pelting  sleet  and  rain, 
was  anything  but  agreeable.  Notwithstanding 
that  I  had  been  up  all  the  previous  night,  I  felt 
too  anxious  to  sleep ;  the  wind  blew  directly 
up  Barrow  Strait,  drifting  us  about  two  miles  an 
hour.  Occasionally  she  drifted  to  leeward  of 
masses  of  ice,  reminding  us  that  if  any  of  the 
dense  pack  which  covered  this  sea  only  three 
weeks  ago  remained  to  leeward  of  us,  we  must 
be  rapidly  setting  down  upon  its  weather  edge. 
The  only  expedient  in  such  a  case  is  to  endea- 
vour to  run  into  it — once  well  within  its  outer 
margin  a  ship  is  comparatively  safe — the  danger 


TEF     FOX     ARRIVING   AT   BEtCnti    ISLAND, 
iptain  May 


Aug.  1858.  BEECHEY  ISLAND  DEPOT.  171 

lies  in  the  attempt  to  penetrate ;  to  escape  out 
of  the  pack  afterwards  is  also  a  doubtful  matter. 

In  the  evening  we  were  glad  to  see  the  land, 
and  find  ourselves  off  the  north  shore  near  Cape 
Bullen,  for  the  violent  motion  of  the  ship  and 
very  -weak  horizontal  magnetic  force  had 
rendered  our  compasses  useless.  This  morning, 
the  9th,  the  gale  broke,  and  the  sea  began  to 
subside  rapidly ;  by  noon  it  was  almost  calm, 
but  a  thick  gloom  prevailed,  ominous,  it  might 
be,  of  more  mischief.  All  along  the  land  there 
is  ice,  but  broken  up  into  harmless  atoms.  We 
have  carried  away  a  maingaff  and  a  jibstay, 
but  have  come  remarkably  well  through  such  a 
gale  with  such  trifling  damage. 

11th. — Before  noon  to-day  we  anchored  inside 
Cape  Riley,  and  immediately  commenced  pre- 
parations for  embarking  coals.  I  visited  Beechey 
Island  house,  and  found  the  door  open ;  it  must 
have  been  blown  in  by  an  easterly  gale  long  ago, 
for  much  ice  had  accumulated  immediately  inside 
it.  Most  of  the  biscuit  in  bags  was  damaged,  but 
everything  else  was  in  perfect  order.  €  Upon  the 
north  and  west  sides  of  the  house,  where  a  wall 
had  been  constructed,  there  was  a  vast  accu- 
mulation of  ice,  in  which  the  lower  tier  of  casks 
between  the  two  were  embedded,  and  its  sur- 
face thawed  into  pools.    Neither  casks  nor  walls 


172  BEECHEY  ISLAND  DEPOT.  Chap.  X. 

should  have  been  allowed  to  stand  near  the 
house.  The  southern  and  eastern  sides  were 
clear  and  perfectly  dry.  The  6  Mary '  decked 
boat,  and  two  30-feet  lifeboats,  were  in  excel- 
lent order,  and  their  paint  appeared  fresh,  but 
oars  and  bare  wood  were  bleached  white. 

The  gutta-percha  boat  was  useless  when  left 
here,  and  remains  in  the  same  state.  Two  small 
sledge  travelling  boats  were  damaged ;  one  of 
them  had  been  blown  over  and  over  along  the 
beach  until  finally  arrested  by  the  other.  The 
bears  and  foxes  do  not  appear  to  have  touched 
anything.  I  have  taken  on  board  all  letters 
left  here  for  Franklin's  or  Collinson's  expedi- 
tions, and  also  a  20-feet  sledge-boat  for  our  own 
travelling  purposes. 

Last  night  we  steamed  very  close  round  Cape 
Hurd  in  a  dense  fog,  and  crept  along  the  land 
as  our  only  guide  :  we  were  thus  led  into  Rigby 
Bay,  and  discovered  a  shoal  off  its  entrance  by 
grounding  upon  it.  After  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
we  floated  off  unhurt. 

In  lowering  a  boat  to  pursue  a  bear,  Robert 
Hampton  fell  overboard;  fortunately  he  could 
swim,  and  was  very  soon  picked  up,  but  the  in- 
tense cold  of  the  water  had  almost  paralyzed  his 
limbs.     The  bear  was  shot  and  taken  on  board. 

Sunday,  15th,  9  p.m. — Our  coaling  was  com- 


Aug.  1858.  AN  AECTIC  MONUMENT.  173 

pleted  yesterday,  and  the  ship  brought  over 
and  anchored  off  the  house  in  Erebus  and  Terror 
Bay.  A  small  proportion  of  provisions  and 
winter  clothing  has  been  embarked  to  complete 
our  deficiencies  ;  the  ice  has  been  scraped  out  of 
the  h6use  and  its  roof  thoroughly  repaired,  a 
record  deposited,  and  door  securely  closed. 

I  found  lying  at  Grodhavn  a  marble  tablet 
which  had  been  sent  out  by  Lady  Franklin,  in 
the  American  expedition  of  1855  under  Captain 
Harts tein,  for  the  purpose  of  being  erected  at 
Beechey  Island.  Circumstances  prevented  the 
Americans  executing  this  kindly  service,  and  it 
fell  to  my  lot  to  convey  it  to  the  site  originally 
intended.  The  tablet  was  constructed  in  New 
York  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Grinnell  at  the 
request  of  Lady  Franklin,  in  order  that  the 
only  opportunity  which  then  offered  of  sending 
it  to  the  Arctic  regions  might  not  be  lost.  I 
placed  the  monument  upon  the  raised  flagged 
square  in  the  centre  of  which  stands  the  ceno- 
taph recording  the  names  of  those  who  perished 
in  the  Government  expedition  under  Sir  Ed- 
ward Belcher.  Here  also  is  placed  a  small 
tablet  to  the  memory  of  Lieutenant  Bellot.  I 
could  not  have  selected  for  Lady  Franklin's  me- 
morial a  more  appropriate  or  conspicuous  site. 
The  inscription  runs  as  follows  : — 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OF 

FRANKLIN, 

CROZIER,   FITZJAMES, 

AND   ALL   THEIR 

GALLANT   BROTHER    OFFICERS   AND   FAITHFUL 

COMPANIONS    WHO   HAVE   SUFFERED   AND   PERISHED 

IN  THE  CAUSE  OF  SCIENCE  AND 

THE   SERVICE   OF   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

THIS    TABLET 

IS   ERECTED   NEAR  THE   SPOT  WHERE 
THEY  PASSED  THEIR  FIRST  ARCTIC 
WINTER,    AND   WHENCE    THEY   ISSUED 
FORTH   TO   CONQUER   DIFFICULTIES    OR 

TO    DIE. 

IT   COMMEMORATES   THE   GRIEF   OF   THEIR 

ADMIRING   COUNTRYMEN   AND   FRIENDS, 

AND   THE   ANGUISH,    SUBDUED   BY   FAITH, 

OF   HER  WHO   HAS   LOST,   IN   THE    HEROIC 

LEADER   OF   THE    EXPEDITION,    THE    MOST 

DEVOTED   AND   AFFECTIONATE    OF 

HUSBANDS. 


AND  SO  EE  BRINGETH  THEM  UNTO  THE 
HAVEN  WHERE  THEY  WOULD  BE:' 
1855. 


This  stone  has  been  intrusted  to  be  affixed  in  its  place  by  the  Officers  and  Crew 
of  the  American  Expedition,  commanded  by  Lt.  H.  J.  Hartstein,  in  search 
of  Dr.  Kane  and  his  Companions. 


This  Tablet  having  been  left  at  Disco  by  the 
American  Expedition,  which  was  unable  to 
reach  Beechey  Island,  in  1855,  was  put  on 
board  the  Discovery  Yacht  Fox,  and  is  now 
set  up  here  by  Captain  M'Clintock,  R.N., 
commanding  the  final  expedition  of  search 
for  ascertaining  the  fate  of  Sir  John  Franklin 
and  his  companions.  1858. 


Aug.  1858.  EEFLECTIONS  AT  BEECHEY  ISLAND.  175 

We  are  now  ready  to  proceed  upon  our 
voyage  from  Beechey  Island,  and  there  is  no  ice 
in  sight ;  but  having  worked  almost  unceasingly 
since  our  arrival  up  to  the  present  hour,  the 
men  require  a  night's  rest.  Nearly  forty  tons 
of  fuel  have  been  embarked. 

The  total  absence  of  ice  in  Barrow  Strait  is 
astonishing.  No  less  so  are  the  changes  and 
chances  of  this  singular  navigation.  Twelve 
days  later  than  this  in  1850,  when  I  belonged 
to  Her  Majesty's  ship  'Assistance/  with  con- 
siderable difficulty  we  came  within  sight  of 
Beechey  Island  :  a  cairn  on  its  summit  attracted 
notice ;  Captain  Ommanney  managed  to  land, 
and  discovered  the  first  traces  of  the  missing 
expedition.  Next  day  the  United  States  schooner 
6  Eescue '  arrived  ;  the  day  after,  Captain  Penny 
joined  us,  and  subsequently  Captain  Austin,  Sir 
John  Boss,  and  Captain  Forsyth, — in  all,  ten 
vessels  were  assembled  here.  This  day  six 
years,  when  in  command  of  the  '  Intrepid/  we 
sailed  from  here  for  Melville  Island  in  company 
with  the  '  Besolute.'  Again  I  was  here  at  this 
time  in  1854, — still  frozen  up, — in  the  ■  North 
Star/  and  doubts  were  entertained  of  the  possi- 
bility of  escape. 

To  come  down  to  a  later  period,  it  was  this 
day  fortnight  only  that  I  set  out  for  the  native 


176  CAPE  HOTHAM.  Chap.X. 

village  in  Pond's  Inlet,  under  the  guidance  of 
an  old  woman  :  the  trip  was  interesting,  but  we 
failed  to  obtain  the  slightest  clue  to  the  "  where- 
abouts "  of  the  missing  ships ;  moreover,  our 
own  little  vessel  had  a  most  providential  escape 
from  being  crushed  against  the  cliffs ;  and  this 
day  week  was  spent  in  contending  with  a  furious 
gale,  during  which  the  ship  had  nearly  been 
driven  to  leeward  and  dashed  to  pieces  by  the 
sea-beaten  pack.  Yet  these  are  only  pre- 
liminaries,—we  are  only  now  about  to  com- 
mence the  interesting  part  of  our  voyage.  It  is 
to  be  hoped  the  poor  c  Fox '  has  many  more 
lives  to  spare. 

Monday  night,  16th  Aug. — Sailed  from  Beechey 
Island  this  morning,  and  in  the  evening  landed 
at  Cape  Hotham.  A  small  depot  of  provisions 
and  three  boats  were  left  there  by  former  expe- 
ditions. Of  the  depot  all  has  been  destroyed 
with  the  exception  of  two  casks  landed  in  1850. 
The  boats  were  sound,  but  several  of  their 
oars,  which  had  been  secured  upright,  were 
found  broken  down  by  bears — those  inquisitive 
animals  having  a  decided  antipathy  to  anything 
stuck  up — stuck-up  things  in  general  being, 
in  this  country,  unnatural.  Fragments  of  the 
depot  and  the  broken  oars  were  tossed  about 
in   every    direction.     Numerous   records    were 


Aug.  1858.      PROCEED  DOWN  PEEL  STRAIT.  177 

found ;  to  the  most  recent  a  few  lines  were 
added,  stating  that  we  had  removed  the  two 
whale-boats — one  to  be  left  at  Port  Leopold,  the 
other  to  replace  onr  own  crushed  by  the  ice. 

17th. — Last  night  battling  against  a  strong 
foul  wind  with  sea,  in  rain  and  fog.  To-day 
much  loose  ice  is  seen  southward  of  Griffith's 
Island.  The  weather  improved  this  afternoon, 
and  we  shot  gallantly  past  Limestone  Island, 
and  are  now  steering  down  Peel  Strait :  all  of 
us  in  a  wild  state  of  excitement — a  mingling  of 
anxious  hopes  and  fears  ! 

IStk. — For  25  miles  last  evening  we  ran  un- 
obstructedly  down  Peel  Strait,  but  then  came  in 
sight  of  unbroken  ice  extending  across  it  from 
shore  to  shore  !  It  was  much  decayed,  and  of 
one  year's  growth  only  ;  yet  as  the  strait  con- 
tinues to  contract  for  60  miles  further,  and  it 
appeared  to  me  to  afford  so  little  hope  of  be- 
coming navigable  in  the  short  remainder  of 
the  season,  I  immediately  turned  about  for 
Bellot  Strait,  as  affording  a  better  prospect  of  a 
passage  into  the  western  sea  discovered  by  Sir 
James  Boss  from  Four  Eiver  Point  in  1849. 
Our  disappointment  at  the  interruption  of  our 
progress  was  as  sudden  as  it  was  severe.  We 
did  not  linger  in  hope  of  a  change,  but  steered 

N 


178  POET  LEOPOLD.  Chap.  X. 

out  again  into  the  broad  waters  of  Barrow 
Strait.  However,  should  Bellot  Strait  prove 
hopeless,  I  intend  to  return  hither  to  make  one 
more  effort  before  the  close  of  the  season. 

We  are  now  approaching  Port  Leopold,  where 
it  is  necessary  to  stop  for  a  few  hours  to  ex- 
amine the  state  of  the  steam  launch,  provisions, 
and  stores,  left  there  in  1849,  as  adverse  circum- 
stances may  oblige  me  to  fall  back  upon  it  as  a 
point  of  support. 

Idth.— At  anchor  in  Port  Leopold  ;  it  is  per- 
fectly clear  of  ice  ;  we  arrived  here  in  the  night. 
How  astonishingly  bare  the  land  looks ;  it  is 
more  barren  than  Beechey  Island,  whilst  the 
rock  contains  far  fewer  fossils  !  On  this  day 
nine  years  ago  the  harbour  and  sea  continued 
covered  with  ice,  and  the  ships  ('  Enterprise ' 
and  '  Investigator  5)  were  unable  to  escape.  At 
some  period  since  then  the  ice  has  been  pressed 
in  upon  the  low  shingle  point ;  it  has  forced  the 
launch  up  before  it,  and  left  her  broadside  on  to 
the  beach,  with  both  bows  stove  in,  and  in  want 
of  considerable  repairs,  but  the  means  are  all  at 
hand  for  executing  them.  We  tried  to  haul  her 
further  up,  but  she  was  firmly  imbedded  and 
frozen  into  the  ground.  Many  things  appear 
to  have  been  covered  with  the  loose  shingle,  bags 


Aug.  1858.  OFF  FURY  POINT.  179 

of  coal  and  coke  just  appearing  through  it 
scarcely  above  high-water  mark.  Amongst  the 
missing  articles  is  the  steam  engine. 

Although  the  flagstaff  upon  the  summit  of 
North  East  Cape  is  still  standing,  the  one 
erected  upon  this  point  and  almost  the  whole  of 
the  framing  of  the  house  lies  prostrate.  The 
provisions  appeared  to  be  sound,  but  were  not 
generally  examined.  The  whale-boat  we  removed 
from  Cape  Hotham  was  landed  here,  and  a  record 
of  our  proceedings  added  to  the  many  which 
have  accumulated  here  during  the  last  ten  years. 
Some  coke  and  a  few  things  useful  to  us  and 
merely  decaying  here  were  taken  on  board,  and 
by  evening  we  were  again  speeding  onward  with 
augmented  resources,  and  the  confidence  inspired 
by  a  secure  depot  in  our  rear ;  buoyed  up  more- 
over by  the  joyful  anticipation  of  soon  reaching 
the  goal  of  our  long-deferred  hopes. 

20^.— Noon.  Exactly  off  Fury  Point.  There 
is  one  large  iceberg  far  off  in  the  S.E. ;  no  other 
ice  in  sight!  I  would  have  landed  at  Fury 
Beach  to  examine  the  remaining  supplies  there, 
but  a  snow  shower  prevented  our  distinguishing 
anything,  and  a  strong  tide  carried  us  past  be- 
fore we  were  aware  of  it. 

We  feel  that  the  crisis  of  our  voyage  is  near 

n  2 


180  DEPOT  BAY.  Chap.  X. 

at  hand.  Does  Bellot  Strait  really  exist  ?  if  so, 
is  it  free  from  ice  ? 

A  depot  of  provisions  is  being  got  ready 
to  be  landed,  should  it  be  practicable  for  us  to 
push  through  and  proceed  to  the  southward. 

21st. — On  approaching  Brentford  Bay  last 
evening,  packed  ice  was  seen  streaming  out  of  it, 
also  much  ice  in  the  S.E.  The  northern  point 
of  entrance  was  landed  upon  by  Sir  John  Koss 
in  1829,  and  named  Possession  Point ;  we 
rounded  it  closely,  and  could  distinguish  a  few 
stones  piled  up  upon  a  large  rock  near  its 
highest  part — this  is  his  cairn.  As  we  passed 
westward  between  the  point  and  Browne's 
Island,  through  a  channel  a  mile  in  width,  a 
close  pack  was  discovered  a  few  miles  ahead ; 
and  it  being  past  ten  o'clock,  and  almost  dark, 
the  ship  was  anchored  in  a  convenient  bay 
three  or  four  miles  within  Possession  Point. 
Here  our  depot  is  to  be  landed,  therefore  we 
shall  name  this  for  the  present  Depot  Bay ;  a 
very  narrow  isthmus  between  its  head  and 
Hazard  Inlet  unites  the  low  limestone  penin- 
sula, of  which  Possession  Point  is  the  extreme, 
to  the  mainland. 

To-day  an  unsparing  use  of  steam  and  canvas 
forced  the  ship  eight  miles  further  west ;  we 


Aug.  1858.  BELLOT  STKAIT.  181 

were  then  about  half-way 'through  Bellot  Strait ! 
Its  western  capes  are  lofty  bluffs,  such  as  may 
be  distinguished  fifty  miles  distant  in  clear 
weather ;  between  them  there  was  a  clear 
broad  channel,  but  five  or  six  miles  of  close 
heavy  pack  intervened — the  sole  obstacle  to 
our  progress.  Of  course  this  pack  will  speedily 
disperse ; — it  is  no  wonder  that  we  should  feel 
elated  at  such  a  glorious  prospect,  and  content 
to  bide  our  time  in  the  security  of  Depot  Bay. 
A  feeling  of  tranquillity — of  earnest,  hearty 
satisfaction — has  come  over  us.  There  is  no 
appearance  amongst  us  of  anything  boastful ; 
we  have  all  experienced  too  keenly  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  Arctic  voyaging  to  admit  of  such  a 
feeling. 

At  the  turn  of  tide  we  perceived  that  we 
were  being  carried,  together  with  the  pack, 
back  to  the  eastward  ;  every  moment  our  velo- 
city was  increased,  and  presently  we  were  dis- 
mayed at  seeing  grounded  ice  near  us,  but  were 
very  quickly  swept  past  it  at  the  rate  of  nearly 
six  miles  an  hour,  though  within  200  yards  of 
the  rocks,  and  of  instant  destruction !  As  soon 
as  we  possibly  could,  we  got  clear  of  the  packed 
ice,  and  left  it  to  be  wildly  hurled  about  by 
various  whirlpools  and  rushes  of  the  tide,  until 
finally  carried  out  into  Brentford  Bay.    The  ice- 


182  BELLOT  STRAIT.  Chap.  X. 

masses  were  large,  and  dashed  violently  against 
each  other,  and  the  rocks  lay  at  some  distance 
off  the  southern  shore ;  we  had  a  fortunate 
escape  from  such  dangerous  company.  After 
anchoring  again  in  Depot  Bay,  a  large  stock  of 
provisions  and  a  record  of  our  proceedings  were 
landed,  as  there  seems  every  probability  of 
advancing  into  the  western  sea  in  a  very  few 
days. 

The  appearance  of  Bellot  Strait  is  precisely 
that  of  a  Greenland  fiord ;  it  is  about  20 
miles  long  and  scarcely  a  mile  wide  in  the 
narrowest  part,  and  there,  within  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  of  the  north  shore,  the  depth  was  ascer- 
tained to  be  400  feet.  Its  granitic  shores 
are  bold  and  lofty,  with  a  very  respectable 
sprinkling  of  vegetation  for  lat.  72°.  Some 
of  the  hill-ranges  rise  to  about  1500  or  1600 
feet  above  the  sea. 

The  low  land  eastward  of  Depot  Bay  is 
composed  of  limestone,  destitute  alike  of  fossils 
and  vegetation.  The  granite  commences  upon 
the  west  shore  of  Depot  Bay,  and  is  at  once  bold 
and  rugged.  Many  seals  have  been  seen ;  a 
young  bear  was  shot,  and  Walker  took  a  photo- 
graph of  him  as  he  lay  upon  our  deck,  the  dogs 
creeping  near  to  lick  up  the  blood. 

The   great   rapidity   of  the   tides   in    Bellot 


Aug.  1858.      FLOOD  TIDE  FEOM  THE  WEST.  183 

Strait  fully  accounts  for  the  spaces  of  open 
water  seen  by  Mr.  Kennedy*  when  he  travelled 
through,  early  in  April.  The  strait  runs  very 
nearly  east  and  west,  but  its  eastern  entrance 
is  well  masked  by  Long  Island  ;  when  half-way 
through*  both  seas  are  visible.  As  in  Green- 
land, the  night  tides  are  much  higher  than  the 
day  tides  ;  last  night  it  was  high  water  at  about 
half-past  eleven ;  as  nearly  as  we  can  estimate, 
the  tide  runs  through  to  the  west,  from  two 
hours  before  high  water  until  four  hours  after 
it ;  that  is,  the  flood-tide  comes  from  the  west ! 
Such  is  also  the  case  in  Hecla  and  Fury  Strait ; 
in  both  places  the  tide  from  the  west  is  much 
the  strongest.  I  am  not  sufficiently  informed 
to  discuss  this  subject,  but  infer  the  existence 
of  a  channel  between  Victoria  and  Prince  of 
Wales'  Land.  The  rise  and  fall  is  much  less 
upon  the  western  side  of  the  Isthmus  of  Boothia 
than  upon  the  east,  and  it  likewise  decreases, 
we  know,  in  Barrow  Strait,  as  we  advance 
westward. 

23rd. — Yesterday  Bellot  Strait  was  again 
examined,  but  the  five  miles  of  close  pack 
occupied    precisely    the    same    position    as    if 

heaped  together  by  contending  tides ;  consider* 

*  Mr.  Kennedy  discovered  this  important  passage  when  in  command 
of  the  '  Prince  Albert '  in  1851. 


184  RAMBLE  INLAND.  Chap.  X. 

able  augmentations  were  moreover  seen  drifting 
in  from  the  western  sea.  Finding  nothing  could 
be  effected  in  Bellot  Strait,  we  sought  in  vain 
for  the  more  southern  channel  which  should 
exist  to  form  Levesque  Island  :  we  did,  however, 
find  a  beautiful  harbour,  and  are  now  securely- 
anchored  in  its  north-west  arm  ;  I  have  named 
it  after  the  gentleman  whose  former  island  I 
have  thus  reluctantly  converted  into  the  north- 
ern extreme  of  the  Boothian  Peninsula,  and 
consequently  of  the  American  continent.  The 
south-western  angle  of  Brentford  Bay  is  still 
covered  with  unbroken  ice. 

This  evening  we  all  landed  to  explore  our 
new  ground.  Young  and  Petersen  shot  some 
brent  geese ;  Walker  saw  two  deer,  but  he  was 
botanising,  and  had  no  gun ;  others  were  seen 
by  some  of  the  men,  and  followed,  but  without 
success. 

I  enjoyed  a  delightfully  refreshing  ramble,  a 
mile  or  two  inland,  through  a  gently  ascending 
valley,  then  two  miles  along  the  narrow  margin 
of  a  pretty  little  lake  between  mountains, 
beyond  which  lay  a  much  larger  one,  four 
or  five  miles  in  diameter ;  this  farther  lake  was 
only  partially  divested  of  its  winter  ice.  Here 
the  scenery  was  not  only  grand,  but  beautiful ; 
there   was    enough    of   vegetation  to  tint   the 


Aug.  1858.  EAMBLE  INLAND.  185 

craggy  hill-sides  and  to  make  the  sheltered 
hollows  absolutely  green  ;  deer-tracks  and  the 
footprints  of  wild-fowl  were  everywhere  nume- 
rous along  the  water-side.  I  saw  two  decayed 
skulls  of  musk  oxen,  and  circles  of  stones  by 
the  little  lake,  doubtless  at  some  remote  period 
the  summer  residence  of  wandering  Esquimaux  : 
hence  I  infer  that  fish  abound  in  the  lake,  and 
that  this  valley  is  a  favourite  deer-pass. 

But  the  contemplation  of  these  objects,  al- 
though agreeable,  was  not  the  object  of  my 
solitary  ramble  :  I  came  on  shore  to  cogitate 
undisturbed  in  a  leisurely  and  philosophic  man- 
ner. We  hoped  very  soon  to  enter  an  unknown 
sea  :  discoveries  were  to  be  made,  contingencies 
provided  for,  and  plans  prepared  to  meet  them. 

Yesterday  Petersen  shot  an  immense  bearded 
seal ;  it  sank,  but  floated  up  an  hour  afterwards. 
This  animal  measured  8  feet  long,  and  weighed 
about  500  lbs.  We  prefer  its  flesh  to  that  of 
the  small  seals,  and  its  blubber  will  afford  a 
valuable  addition  to  our  stock  of  lamp  oil  for 
the  coming  winter. 

25^. — In  Depot  Bay.  We  remained  but 
twenty-four  hours  in  Levesque  Harbour ;  a 
change  of  wind  led  us  to  hope  for  a  removal  of 
the  ice  in  Bellot  Strait,  therefore  I  determined 
to  make  another  attempt. 


186  FOX'S  HOLE.  Chap.  X. 

"When  off  the  table-land,  where  the  depth  is 
not  more  than  from  6  to  10  fathoms,  and  the 
tides  run  strongest,  the  ship  hardly  moved  over 
the  ground,  although  going  6i  knots  through 
the  water!  Thus  delayed,  darkness  overtook 
us,  and  we  anchored  at  midnight  in  a  small 
indentation  of  the  north  shore,  christened  by 
the  men  Fox's  Hole,  rather  more  than  half-way 
through. 

For  several  hours  we  had  been  coquetting 
with  huge  rampant  ice-masses  that  wildly  surged 
about  in  the  tideway,  or  we  dashed  through 
boiling  eddies,  and  sometimes  almost  grazed  the 
tall  cliffs ;  we  were  therefore  naturally  glad  of 
a  couple  or  three  hours'  rest,  even  in  such  a 
very  unsafe  position.  At  early  dawn  we  again 
proceeded  west,  but  for  three  miles  only  ;  the 
pack  again  stopped  us,  and  we  could  perceive 
that  the  western  sea  was  covered  with  ice  ;  the 
east  wind,  which  could  alone  remove  it,  now 
gave  place  to  a  hard-hearted  westerly  one. 

All  the  strait  to  the  eastward  of  us,  and  the 
eastern  sea,  as  far  as  could  be  seen  from  the 
hill-tops,  is  perfectly  free  from  ice,  whereas 
in  the  direction  we  wish  to  proceed  there  is 
nothing  but  packed-ice,  or  water  which  can- 
not be  reached.  Bitterly  disappointed  we  are, 
of  course ;  yet  there  is  reasonable  ground  for 


Aug.  1858.  PERILOUS  AMUSEMENT.  187 

hope ;  grim  winter  will  not  ratify  the  obstinate 
proceedings  of  the  western  ice  for  nearly  four 
weeks. 

Last  evening's  amusement  was  most  exciting, 
nor  was  it  without  its  peculiar  perils.  With 
cunning  and  activity  worthy  of  her  name,  our 
little  craft  warily  avoided  a  tilting-match  with 
the  stout  blue  masses  which  whirled  about,  as  if 
with  wilful  impetuosity,  through  the  narrow 
channel ;  some  of  them  were  so  large  as  to 
ground  even  in  6  or  7  fathoms  water.  Many 
were  drawn  into  the  eddies,  and,  acquiring  con- 
siderable velocity  in  a  contrary  direction,  sud- 
denly broke  bounds,  charging  out  into  the 
stream  and  entering  into  mighty  conflict  with 
their  fellows.  After  such  a  frolic  the  masses 
would  revolve  peaceably  or  unite  with  the 
pack,  and  await  quietly  their  certain  dissolu- 
tion ;  may  the  day  of  that  wished-for  dissolu- 
tion be  near  at  hand !  Nothing  but  strong 
hope  of  success  induced  me  to  encounter  such 
dangerous  opposition.  I  not  only  hoped,  but 
almost  felt,  that  we  deserved  to  succeed. 

Two  plans  were  now  occupying  my  thoughts, 
both  of  them  resulting  from  the  conviction  that 
we  should  probably  be  compelled  to  winter  to 
the  eastward  of  Bellot  Strait:  the  most  im- 
portant of  these  plans  is  that  of  finding  some 


188  PRECAUTIONARY  MEASURES.  Chap.  X. 

series  of  valleys,  chain  of  lakes,  or  continuous 
low  land,  practicable  as  an  overland  sledge- 
route  to  the  western  coast,  along  which  we 
may  transport  depots  of  provisions  this  au- 
tumn ;  for  it  is  certain  that  the  strong  tides 
will  prevent  Bellot  Strait  being  frozen  over 
till  winter  is  far  advanced,  and  its  surface 
will  afford  us  no  means  of  passing  westward 
with  our  sledges. 

The  other  plan,  and  that  which  we  are  now 
about  to  execute,  is  to  land  a  small  depot  of 
provisions  60  or  70  miles  to  the  southward, 
and  down  Prince  Regent's  Inlet,  in  order  to 
facilitate  communication  with  the  Esquimaux 
either  this  autumn  or  in  early  spring. 

This  precautionary  step  became  so  necessary 
in  the  event  of  the  west  coast  presenting  unusual 
difficulties,  that  I  determined  to  carry  it  at  once 
into  execution.  Quitting  the  "  Fox's  Hole,"  and 
resting  for  one  night  in  Depot  Bay,  we  sailed 
thence  on  the  26th  ;  a  fine  breeze  carried  us 
rapidly  southward  along  the  coast  of  Regent 
Inlet ;  there  was  but  little  obstruction  ;  occa- 
sionally it  was  necessary  to  pass  through  a 
stream  of  loose  ice ;  but  we  saw  little  of  any 
kind,  compared  to  the  experiences  of  Sir  John 
Ross  in  1829. 


Aug.  1858.  STILLWELL  BAY.  189 

About  dusk  (nine  o'clock)  much  loose  ice  to 
the  southward  prevented  our  making  any  at- 
tempt at  further  progress ;  we  therefore  anchored 
off  the  coast — in  Stillwell  Bay,  I  think — about 
45  miles  from  Depot  Bay.  Here  the  depot,  con- 
sisting of  120  rations,  was  landed.  I  observe  that 
it  has  only  been  on  penetrating  into  Brent- 
ford Bay  that  we  have  found  the  primary  rocks 
washed  by  the  sea  ;  the  coast-line  both  north 
and  south,  as  far  as,  and  beyond  our  present 
position,  is  a  low  shore  of  pale  limestone,  desti- 
tute of  fossils ;  we  can  however  see  granitic 
hill-ranges  far  in  the  interior. 

On  the  27th  we  commenced  beating  back  to 
the  northward,  tacking  between  the  land  and 
the  ice  which  lay  about  15  miles  off  shore. 
Towards  night  the  wind  greatly  increased, 
and  the  ship,  under  reefed  sails,  plunged  vio- 
lently into  the  short,  swift,  high  seas ;  we  also 
felt  quite  as  uneasy  and  restless  as  the  ship,  in 
our  great  anxiety  to  get  back  and  ascertain 
what  changes  were  likely  to  be  effected  by  the 
gale. 

2$th. — To-night  the  weather  is  more  pleasant ; 
the  keen  and  contrary  wind  has  given  place  to 
a  gentle  fair  breeze,  the  swell  has  almost  sub- 
sided, no   ice   has   been   seen  to-day,   and   the 


190  EOSS'S  CAIEN.  Chap.  X. 

night  is  dark  and  unusually  mild.  I  can  hardly 
fancy  that  the  sea  which  gently  rocks  us  is  not 
the  ocean,  and  the  soft  air  the  breath  of  our 
own  temperate  region  !  The  delusion  is 
charming. 

30th. — Yesterday,  after  anchoring  in  Depot 
Bay,  I  walked  over  to  Possession  Point,  to  visit 
Ross's  cairn.  I  found  a  few  stones  piled  up  on 
two  large  boulders,  and  under  each  a  halfpenny, 
one  of  which  I -pocketed.  Upon  the  ground  lay 
the  fragments  of  a  bottle  which  once  contained 
the  record,  and  near  it  a  staff  about  4  feet  long. 
Having  calculated  upon  finding  the  bottle  sound, 
I  was  obliged  to  make  an  impromptu  record- 
case  of  its  long  neck,  into  which  I  thrust  my 
brief  document,  and  consigned  it  to  the  safe 
custody  of  a  small  heap  of  stones,  the  staff  being 
erected  over  it. 

It  was  dark  before  I  got  on  board  again. 
The  strait  had  been  reconnoitred  from  the  hills, 
and  was  reported  to  be  perfectly  clear  of  ice ! 
This  morning  we  made  a  fourth  attempt  to 
pass  through ;  but  Bellot  Strait  was  by  no 
means  clear ;  the  same  obstruction  existed 
which  defeated  our  last  attempt,  and  in  precisely 
the  same  place.  Returning  eastward,  we  entered 
a  narrow  arm  of  the  sea,  nearly  a  couple  of 


Aug.  1858.  MOUNT  WALKER.  191 

roiles  to  the  west  of  Depot  Bay,  and  anchored 
in  a  small  creek,  perfectly  sheltered  and  land- 
locked, at  the  foot  of  a  sugarloaf  hill*  The 
temperature  is  falling ;  last  night  it  stood  at  24°. 


>      *  Subsequently  named  Mount  Walker. 


192  PK0CEED  WESTWAKD  IN  A  BOAT.    Chap.  XI. 


CHAPTEK   XI. 

Proceed  westward  in  a  "boat  —  Cheerless  state  of  the  western  sea 
—  Struggles  in  Bellot  Strait  —  Falcons,  good  Arctic  fare  —  The 
resources  of  Boothia  Felix  —  Future  sledge  travelling  —  Heavy 
gales  —  Hobson's  party  start  —  Winter  quarters  —  Bellot's 
Strait  —  Advanced  depot  established  —  Observatories  —  Intense 
cold  —  Autumn  travellers  —  Narrow  escape. 

Most  anxious  to  know  the  real  state  of  the 
ice  in  the  western  sea — upon  which  our  hopes 
so  entirely  depend  —  I  intend  starting  this 
evening  by  boat,  as  far  through  Bellot  Strait 
as  the  ice  will  permit,  then  land  and  ascend 
the  western  coast-hills. 

1st  Sept. — My  boat  party  consisted  of  four 
men  and  the  Doctor,  who  came  with  me  for  the 
novelty  of  the  cruise,  bringing  his  camera  to 
fasten  upon  anything  picturesque.  We  landed 
near  Half-way  Island,  and  pitched  our  tent  for 
the  night.  Early  next  morning  I  commenced 
the  rather  formidable  undertaking  of  ascending 
the  hills,  for  it  is  not  possible  to  pass  under  the 
cliffs,  and  at  last  I  gained  the  summit  of  the 
loftiest,  overlooking  Cape  Bird  at  a  distance  of 
3  or  4  miles,  and  affording  a  splendid  view  to 


M-CLINTOCK   IN   HIS  BOAT    SAILING   THROUGH   BELLOT   STRAIT. 
Drawn  by  Captain  May 


Sept.  1858.  FOUR  RIVER  POINT.  193 

the  westward,  as  well  as  glimpses  between  the 
hills  of  the  blue  eastern  sea.  Long  and  anxi- 
ously did  I  survey  the  western  sea,  ice,  and 
lands,  and  could  not  but  feel  that  in  all  pro- 
bability we  should  not  be  permitted  to  pass 
beyond  our  present  position. 

To  the  northward  Four  River  Point — Sir 
James  Eoss's  farthest  in  1849 — was  at  once 
recognised ;  rather  more  than  nine  years  ago  T 
stood  upon  it  with  him,  and  gazed  almost  as 
anxiously  in  this  direction  !  My  present  view 
confirmed  the  impression  then  received,  of  a 
wide  channel  leading  southward.  The  outline 
of  the  western  land  is  very  distant ;  it  is  of 
considerable  but  uniform  elevation,  and  slopes 
gradually  down  to  the  strait,  which  is  between 
30  and  40  miles  wide.  This  western  land 
appears  to  be  limestone,  and  without  offlying 
islands.  Our  side  of  the  strait  or  sea,  on  the 
contrary,  is  primary  rock,  and  fringed  with 
islets  and  rocks  ;  its  southern  extreme  bears 
S.S.W.,  and  is  probably  30  miles  distant. 

Now  for  the  ice.  Although  broken  up,  it  lies 
against  this  shore  in  immense  fields  :  there  is 
but  little  water  or  room  for  ice-movement. 
Along  the  west  shore  I  can  distinguish  long 
faint  streaks  of  water.  There  is  no  appearance 
of  disruption  about  Four  River  Point  or  in  the 

o 


194        CHEERLESS  STATE  OF  WESTERN  SEA.    Chap.  XT. 

contracted  part  of  Peel  Strait — we  have  nothing 
to  hope  for  in  that  quarter  ;  neither  is  there 
any  evidence  of  current  or  pressure  ;  the  ice 
appears  much  decayed,  but,  as  I  am  surveying 
it  from  a  height  of  about  1600  feet,  I  may  be 
deceived. 

The  strong  contrast  between  the  eastern  and 
western  seas  and  lands  is  very  unfavourable 
to  the  latter. 

Apart  from  the  ice,  I  was  fortunate,  however, 
in  discovering  a  long  narrow  lake,  occupying 
a  valley  which  lies  between  a  small  inlet  near 
Cape  Bird  and  Hazard  Inlet — in  fact,  a  sort  of 
echo  of  Bellot  Strait  —  and  I  look  upon  it  as 
our  sledge-route  for  the  autumn,  since  it  ap- 
pears probable  we  shall  winter  in  our  present 
position. 

This  is  a  wondrous  rough  country  to  scramble 
over ;  one  never  ceases  to  wonder  how  such 
huge  blocks  of  rock  can  have  got  into  such 
strange  positions.  I  noticed  two  masses  in  par- 
ticular, each  of  them  perched  upon  three  small 
stones.  The  rock  is  gneiss ;  there  is  also  much 
granite.  Even  upon  the  hill-tops  pieces  of  lime- 
stone are  occasionally  met  with. 

My  walk  occupied  eleven  hours,  and,  although 
I  everywhere  saw  traces  of  animals,  the  only 
living  thing  seen  was  a  grey  falcon.     During 


Sept.  1858.     STRUGGLES  IN  BELLOT  STRAIT.  195 

my  absence  from  the  tent  the  men  rambled  all 
over  the  hills,  but  saw  no  game,  our  encamp- 
ment was  therefore  shifted  to  a  better  position 
near  the  eastern  termination  of  the  table-land. 
This  morning  we  explored  the  neighbouring 
valleys ;  'saw  three  deer,  and  shot  one,  returning 
on  board  the  \  Fox  •  in  time  for  dinner. 

Many  deer  had  been  seen  not  far  from  the 
ship,  and  Hobson  had  shot  a  bearded  seal. 
I  have  organized  another  boat  party  ;  Young 
will  start  with  it  to-morrow  morning  to  seek  a 
sledge  route  from  the  southern  angle  of  Brent- 
ford Bay  to  the  western  sea. 

6th. — Young  returned  this  morning  ;  he  re- 
ports the  south-west  angle  of  the  bay  not  to  run 
in  so  far  as  we  expected,  and  to  be  environed 
by  very  high  land,  impracticable  for  sledges. 

Our  Esquimaux,  Samuel,  shot  a  fawn  to-day. 

Strong  northerly  winds  have  latterly  pre- 
vailed ;  Bellot  Strait  is  quite  clear  of  ice ;  to- 
morrow morning,  therefore,  we  shall  make  our 
fifth  attempt  to  get  the  '  Fox  '  through. 

6th. — Steamed  through  the  clear  waters  of 
Bellot  Strait  this  morning,  and  made  fast  to  the 
ice  across  its  western  outlet  at  a  distance  of  two 
miles  from  the  shore,  and  close  to  a  small  islet 
which  we  have  already  dubbed  Pemmican  JRock, 
having  landed  upon  it  a  large  supply  of  that 

o  2 


196  FALSE  STRAIT— CAPE  BIRD.  Chap.  XI. 

substantial  traveller's  fare,  with  other  provisions 
for  our  future  sledging-parties.  This  ice  is  in 
large  stout  fields,  of  more  than  one  winter's 
growth,  apparently  immovable  in  consequence 
of  the  numerous  islets  and  rocks  which  rise 
through  and  hold  it  fast.  If  the  weather  per- 
mits, we  shall  remain  here  for  a  few  days  and 
watch  the  effect  of  winds  and  tides  upon  it ; 
that  the  ship  will  get  any  further  seems  impro- 
bable. 

10^A. — I  have  explored  a  small  inlet  near  Cape 
Bird,  which  we  have  named  False  Strait,  from 
its  striking  resemblance  to  the  true  one,  and 
find  it  is  only  separated  from  the  long  lake  by 
half-a-mile  of  low  land  ;  the  lake  we  have  ascer- 
tained to  be  about  12  miles  long,  and  from  it 
valleys  extend  eastward  and  southward,  so  that 
we  are  sure  of  a  good  sledge  route,— an  impor- 
tant matter,  as  the  hills  rise  to  1600  feet  above 
the  sea. 

Cape  Bird  is  500  feet  high ;  from  its  summit 
we  carefully  observe  the  ice.  This  granite  coast 
presents  a  jagged  appearance ;  it  is  deeply  in- 
dented and  studded  with  islets.  The  ice  in  the 
western  sea  (or  Peel  Strait)  is  much  more 
broken  up  than  it  was  upon  the  31st  ultimo ; 
there  is  no  longer  any  fixed  ice  except  within 
the  grasp  of  the  islets.     Birds  and  animals  have 


Sept.  1858.      FALCONS  GOOD  ARCTIC  FARE.  197 

become  very  scarce ;  three  seals  have  been  shot, 
and  a  bear  seen.  To-morrow  we  shall  return 
to  our  harbour,  and  endeavour  to  procure  a  few 
more  reindeer  before  they  migrate  southward. 

12th. — Yesterday  we  anchored  within  the 
entrance  of  our  creek,  being  a  more  convenient 
position  than  up  at  its  head.  We  are  already 
in  our  wintering  position,  and,  being  without 
occupation,  one  day  seems  most  remarkably 
like  another !  Although  the  fondly  cherished 
hope  of  pushing  farther  in  our  ship  can  no 
longer  be  entertained,  yet  as  long  as  the  season 
continues  navigable,  it  is  our  duty  to  be  in 
readiness  to  avail  ourselves  of  any  opportunity, 
however  improbable,  of  being  able  to  do  so. 

Once  firmly  frozen  in,  our  autumn  travelling 
will  commence,  and  afford  welcome  occupation. 
Almost  all  on  board  have  guns ;  ammunition 
is  supplied,  and  a  sailor  with  a  musket  is  a  very 
contented  and  zealous  sportsman,  if  not  always 
a  successful  one ;  it  is  a  powerful  incentive  to 
exercise.  To-day  the  ramblers  saw  only  two 
hares,  an  ermine,  and  an  owl.  Some  peregrine 
falcons  have  lately  been  shot ;  Petersen  declares 
they  are  "  the  best  beef  in  the  country,  and  the 
young  birds  tender  and  white  as  chicken  J" 

A  few  days  ago  a  large  cask  of  biscuit  was 
opened,  and  a  living  mouse  discovered  therein  ! 


198  A  COMET  OBSERVED.  Chai>.  XI. 

it  was  small,  but  mature  in  years.  The  cask,  a 
strong  watertight  one,  was  packed  on  shore  at 
Aberdeen  in  June,  1857,  and  remained  ever 
afterwards  unopened  ;  there  was  no  hole  by 
which  the  mouse  could  have  got  in  or  out, 
besides  it  is  the  only  one  ever  seen  on  board. 
Ships'  biscuit  is  certainly  dry  feeding,  but  who 
dares  assert,  after  the  experience  of  our  mouse, 
that  it  is  not  wonderfully  nutritious  ? 

Ibth. — Two  nights  ago  a  comet  was  observed 
just  beneath  the  constellation  of  the  Great 
Bear  ;  a  series  of  measurements  were  com- 
menced for  determining  its  path.  Yesterday  I 
walked  through  the  most  promising  valleys  for 
eight  hours,  but  did  not  see  a  living  creature  ; 
yet  there  is  a  very  fair  show  of  vegetation, 
much  more  than  at  Melville  Island,  where  the 
game  is  abundant.  To  the  east  there  is  not  a 
speck  of  ice,  excepting  only  a  huge  iceberg, 
probably  the  same  we  saw  off  Fury  Point,  a 
very  unusual  visitor  from  Baffin's  Bay,  whence 
it  must  have  been  driven  by  those  long-con- 
tinued east  winds  (of  painful  memory)  in  June 
and  July. 

Hobson  and  two  men  encamped  out  for  three 
days  in  order  to  scour  the  country  ;  they  have 
only  seen  one  hare  and  one  lemming !  Walker 
geologizes ;  amongst  other  things  he  finds  much 


Sept.  1858.  PORT  KENNEDY.  199 

iron  pyrites.  The  dredge  has  been  used,  but 
with  very  little  success.  The  thermometer 
ranges  between  20°  and  30°.  Fresh  water  pools 
are  frozen  over,  sea-ice  forms  in  every  sheltered 
angle  of  the  creeks.  There  is  no  snow  upon 
the  land,  and  this  is  one  cause  of  the  difficulty 
of  finding  game. 

I  have  determined  upon  naming  this  beautiful 
little  anchorage  Port  Kennedy,  after  my  prede- 
cessor, the  discoverer  of  Bellot  Strait,  of  which 
it  is  decidedly  the  port.  This  is  not  a  compli- 
ment to  him,  but  an  agreeable  duty  to  me,  and 
nowhere  could  Mr.  Kennedy's  name  be  more 
appropriately  affixed  than  in  close  proximity 
with  his  interesting  discovery.  And  now  hav- 
ing made  this  acknowledgement,  I  may  venture 
to  confer  our  little  vessel's  name  upon  the  islets 
which  protect  its  entrance. 

The  island  upon  which  Mr.  Kennedy  and 
Lieutenant  Bellot  encamped  was  Long  Island, 
about  three  miles  further  to  the  south-east. 

17th. — Of  late  we  have  been  preparing  pro- 
visions and  equipments  for  our  travelling 
parties.  My  scheme  of  sledge  search  compre- 
hends three  separate  routes  and  parties  of  four 
men  ;  to  each  party  a  dog  sledge  and  driver 
will  be  attached  ;  Hobson,  Young,  and  I  will 
lead  them. 


200  FUTURE  SLEDGE  TRAVELLING.        Chap.  XL 

My  journey  will  be  to  the  Great  Fish  River, 
examining  the  shores  of  King  William's  Land 
in  going  and  returning ;  Petersen  will  be  with 
me. 

Hobson  will  explore  the  western  coast  of 
Boothia  as  far  as  the  magnetic,  pole,  this 
autumn,  I  hope,  and  from  Gateshead  Island 
westward  next  spring. 

Young  will  trace  the  shore  of  Prince  of 
Wales'  Land  from  Lieutenant  Browne's  farthest, 
to  the  southwestward  to  Osborn's  farthest,  if 
possible,  and  also  examine  between  Four  River 
Point  and  Cape  Bird. 

Our  probable  absence  will  be  sixty  or  seventy 
days,  commencing  from  about  the  20th  March. 

In  this  way  I  trust  we  shall  complete  the 
Franklin  search  and  the  geographical  discovery 
of  Arctic  America,  both  left  unfinished  by  the 
former  expeditions;  and  in  so  doing  we  can 
hardly  fail  to  obtain  some  trace,  some  relic,  or, 
it  may  be,  important  records  of  those  whose 
mysterious  fate  it  is  the  great  object  of  our 
labours  to  discover.  But  previous  to  setting 
forth  upon  these  important  journeys,  I  must 
communicate  with  the  Boothians,  if  possible, 
either  upon  the  west  or  east  coast,  in  November 
or  February.  Sir  John  Ross's  '  Narrative '  in- 
forms  us   that   they    sometimes   winter   as  far 


BOG    SLEDGB    OK    SCOOT   PARTY 


Sept.  1858.      STEAM  THROUGH  BELLOT  STEAIT.  201 

north  upon  the  east  coast  as  the  Agnew  River ; 
and  we  know  that  upon  the  west,  at  the  mag- 
netic pole,  their  abandoned  snow  huts  were 
occupied  in  June  by  Sir  James  Ross. 

19th.  —  Yesterday  we  steamed  once  more 
through  Bellot  Strait,  and  took  up  our  former 
position  at  the  ice-edge,  off  its  western  entrance  ; 
the  ice,  hemmed  in  by  islets,  has  not  moved. 

From  the  summit  of  Cape  Bird  I  had  a  very 
extensive  view  this  morning ;  there  is  now 
much  water  in  the  offing,  only  separated  from 
us  by  the  belt  of  islet-girt  ice  scarcely  four  miles 
in  width !  My  conviction  is  that  a  strong  east 
wind  would  remove  this  remaining  barrier ;  it 
is  not  yet  too  late.  The  water  runs  parallel  to 
this  coast,  and  is  four  or  five  miles  broad ; 
beyond  it  there  is  ice,  but  it  appears  to  be  all 
broken  up. 

Yesterday  Young  went  upon  a  dog-sledge  to 
the  nearest  south-western  island,  distant  7  or  8 
miles.  He  reports  the  intervening  ice  cracked 
and  weak  in  some  places,  but  practicable  for 
loaded  sledges ;  the  far  side  of  the  island  is 
washed  by  a  clear  sea,  and  a  bear  which  he  shot 
plunged  into  it,  and,  drifting  away,  was  lost. 
Young  is  in  favour  of  carrying  out  the  depot 
provisions  to  or  beyond  this  island  by  boat ;  but 
as  the  temperature  fell  to  18°  last  night,  and  new 


202  HOBSON'S  PAKTY  STAKT.  Chap.  XI. 

ice  forms  whenever  it  is  calm,  I  prefer  the  safer, 
although  more  laborious  mode  of  sledging ; 
accordingly  to-day  our  dogs  carried  out  two 
sledge-loads  of  the  provisions  intended  for  the 
use  of  our  parties  hereafter. 

22nd. — All  the  provisions  have  now  been 
carried  out  to  the  nearest  island,  which  I  shall 
temporarily  name  Separation*  as  there  our 
spring  parties  will  divide  ;  and  a  portion  in- 
tended for  Hobson's  party  and  my  own  has 
been  carried  on  to  the  next  island  7  or  8  miles 
further.  Our  travelling  boat  and  a  small  re- 
serve depot  have  been  placed  upon  Pemmican 
Eock,  so  already  something  has  been  done. 
Animal  life  is  very  scarce ;  a  few  seals,  an 
occasional  gull,  and  three  brown  falcons,  are  the 
only  creatures  we  have  seen  for  several  days 
past.  Last  evening  at  eight  o'clock  a  very  vivid 
flash  of  lightning  was  observed ;  its  appearance 
in  these  latitudes  is  very  rare ;  once  only  have  I 
seen  it  before — in  September,  1850. 

25th. — Saturday  night.  Furious  gales  from 
N.  and  S.W.,  but  our  barrier  of  coast-ice  re- 
mains undiminished.  This  morning  Hobson  set 
off  upon  a  journey  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  days' 
duration,  with   seven  men  and  fourteen  dogs ; 


*  Subsequently  named  after  my  excellent  friend  A.  Arcedeckne, 
Esq.,  commodore  of  the  Koyal  London  Yacht  Club. 


Sept.  1858.  WINTER  QUARTERS.  203 

be  is  to  advance  the  depots  along  shore  to  the 
south,  and  if  successful  will  reach  latitude  71°. 

The  temperature  is  mild  (  + 17),  but  it  is  snowy 
and  disagreeable  weather ;  there  is  already 
enough  snow  upon  the  old  ice  to  make  walking 
laborious,  and  the  land  has  also  assumed  its 
wintry  complexion. 

2%th. — The  ship  was  kept  available  for  pro- 
secuting her  voyage  up  to  the  latest  hour;  it 
was  only  yesterday  that  we  left  the  western  ice, 
and  in  consequence  of  the  vast  accumulation  of 
young  ice  in  Bellot  Strait  we  had  consider- 
able difficulty  in  reaching  the  entrance  of  Port 
Kennedy  :  all  within  was  so  firmly  frozen  over 
that  after  three  hours'  steaming  and  working 
we  only  penetrated  100  yards  ;  however,  we  are 
in  an  excellent  position,  although  our  wintering 
place  will  be  farther  out  by  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
than  I  intended. 

To-day  we  are  unbending  sails  and  laying  up 
the  engines — uncertainty  no  longer  exists — here 
we  are  compelled  to  remain ;  and  if  we  have 
not  been  as  successful  in  our  voyaging  as  a 
month  ago  we  had  good  reason  to  expect,  we 
may  still  hope  that  Fortune  will  smile  upon  our 
more  humble,  yet  more  arduous,  pedestrian 
explorations — "  Hope  on,  hope  ever."  In  the 
mean  time  the  sudden  transition,  from  mental 


m  EKMINE-HUNT.  Chap.  XI. 

and  physical  wear  and  tear,  to  the  security  and 
quiet  of  winter  quarters,  is  an  immense  relief. 

2nd  Oct. — Mr.  Petersen  has  shot  two  very 
fine  bucks ;  one  is  a  magnificent  fellow,  weigh- 
ing 354  lbs.  (minus  the  paunch).  Several  deer 
have  been  seen ;  they  come  from  the  N".  along 
the  slopes  of  the  eastern  hills.  An  ermine 
came  on  board  a  few  nights  ago  and  kept 
the  dogs  in  a  violent  state  of  excitement,  being 
much  too  wary  to  come  out  from  under  the 
boat  to  be  caught  by  them ;  at  length  one 
of  the  men  secured  it.  This  beautiful  little 
animal  does  not  appear  to  be  full  grown ;  its 
extreme  length  is  13  inches.  Two  others  came 
off  to  the  ship,  and  to  our  great  amusement 
eluded  the  men  who  gave  chase,  by  darting  into 
the  soft  snow — which  is  now  a  foot  deep — and 
reappearing  several  yards  off. 

The  weather  is  too  mild  to  satisfy  us ;  we  wish 
for  severe  frost  to  seal  us  up  securely,  and  make 
the  ice  strong  enough  to  bear  the  sledge-loads 
of  provisions,  &c,  which  are  to  be  landed  for  the 
purpose  of  making  more  room  in  the  ship. 

6th. — A  herd  of  a  dozen  reindeer  crossed  the 
harbour  to-day.  Last  night  Hobson  and  his 
companions  returned,  all  well.  They  were 
stopped  by  the  sea  washing  against  the  cliffs  in 
latitude  71j-°,  and  to  that  point  they  have  ad- 


Oct.  1858.         HOBSOX'S  PARTY  RETURNED.  205 

vanced  the  depots.  Although  the  weather  has- 
been  stormy  here,  they  have  been  able  to  travel 
every  day.  They  found  the  coast  still  fringed 
with  islets,  and  deeply  indented;  upon  every 
point,  moss-grown  circles  of  stones  indicated 
the  abodes  of  Esquimaux  in  times  long  since 
gone  by. 

One  night  they  muzzled  a  dog,  as  she  was  in 
the  habit  of  gnawing  her  harness  :  in  this  de- 
fenceless state,  unable  even  to  bark  and  arouse 
the  men,  her  amiable  sisterhood  attacked  her  so 
fiercely  that  she  died  next  day  ! 

In  honour  of  so  important  and  successful  a 
commencement  of  our  travelling,  as  that  ac- 
complished by  Hobson,  we  had  a  feast  of  good 
venison,  plum  pudding,  and  grog.  It  is  quite 
evident  that  no  more  travelling  can  be  accom- 
plished until  the  ice  forms  a  pathway  along- 
shore ;  in  this,  as  in  some  other  respects,  we 
anxiously  await  the  advance  of  the  season. 
The  weather  is  mild ;  Bellot  Strait  is  almost 
covered  with  ice,  which  drifts  freely  with  every 
tide.  Eeindeer  are  seen  almost  daily ;  they 
too  are  awaiting  the  freezing  over  of  the 
sea  to  continue  their  southern  travels.  Our 
harbour-ice  is  weak  and  covered  a  foot  deep 
with  a  sludgy  compound  of  snow  and  water. 

Sth. — Yesterday  an  ermine  was  caught  in  a 


206  MAGNETIC  OBSERVATORY  BUILT.    Chap.  XI. 

trap ;  hitherto  these  most  active  little  skir- 
mishers have  successfully  robbed  our  fox-traps 
of  their  baits  as  fast  as  they  could  be  renewed. 
To-day  Petersen  shot  another  reindeer ;  it 
weighs  130  lbs.  ;  many  others  were  seen,  also 
a  wolf.  Sometimes  a  few  ptarmigan  are  met 
with,  but  hares  very  rarely. 

12th. — Fine  weather  generally  prevails.  We 
have  landed  about  100  casks,  all  our  boats,  and 
much  lumber,  so  we  shall  have  abundance  of 
room  on  board.  I  enjoyed  a  long  and  exhila- 
rating ramble  upon  snow-shoes  to-day ;  without 
them  I  could  not  have  gone  over  half  the  dis- 
tance— the  snow  lies  so  deep  and  soft — but  I 
only  saw  one  reindeer. 

Y43h. — One  of  our  magnetic  observatories  has 
been  built;  it  stands  upon  the  ice,  210  yards  S. 
(magnetic)  from  the  ship,  and  is  built  of  ice 
sawed  into  blocks — there  not  being  any  suitable 
snow ;  it  is  just  large  enough  to  hold  the  de- 
clinometer for  hourly  observations,  to  be  noted 
throughout  the  winter.  The  housings  have 
been  put  over  the  ship  already,  as  Hobson  will 
leave  us  again  in  a  few  days  to  advance  his 
depot  and  my  own  to  the  vicinity  of  the  mag- 
netic pole  if  possible.  I  would  also  send  Young 
upon  a  similar  duty,  but  the  western  sea  cannot 
have  frozen  over  yet. 


INTERIOR  OF  THE   OBSERVATORY. 
Drawn  by  Captain  May. 


Oct.  1858.  FKEQUENT  GALES.  207 

19*/*.— All  the  17th  a  N.W.  gale  blew  with 
fearful  violence  ;  yesterday  it  abated,  but  not 
sufficiently  to  allow  our  party  to  start.  This 
morning  Hobson  got  away  with  his  nine  men 
and  ten  dogs ;  his  absence  may  be  from  eighteen 
to  twenty  days.  Autumn  travelling  is  most  dis- 
agreeable ;  there  is  so  much  wind  and  snow,  the 
latter  being  soft,  deep,  and  often  wet ;  the  sun  is 
almost  always  obscured  by  mist,  and  is  powerless 
for  warmth  or  drying  purposes,  and  the  tempera- 
ture is  very  variable.  Moreover  there  are  now 
only  eight  hours  of  misty  daylight.  To-day 
the  morning  was  fine,  and  temperature  +  8°. 
Having  completed  the  preliminary  observations 
of  the  times  of  horizontal  and  vertical  vibra- 
tions, also  of  the  magnetic  intensity,  I  set  up 
to-day  the  declinometer,  and  commenced  the 
hourly  series  of  observations  on  the  diurnal 
variation.  I  trust  it  may  continue  unbroken 
until  we  all  set  out  upon  our  spring  travels  in 
March.  A  hare  has  been  shot,  but  no  other 
animals  seen. 

22th. — It  generally  blows  a  gale  of  wind 
here ;  the  only  advantage  in  return  for  so  much 
discomfort  is  that  the  snow  is  the  more  quickly 
packed  hard.  As  we  have  only  three  working 
men  and  an  Esquimaux  left  on  boar,d  for  ship's 
duties,  I  was  assisted  a  few  days  ago  by  the 


208  ANOTHER  OBSERVATORY  BUILT.     Chap.  XT. 

Doctor,  the  Engineer,  and  the  Interpreter  in 
building  another  observatory,  intended  for  cer- 
tain monthly  magnetic  observations.  This  edi- 
fice is  constructed  of  snow.  Whenever  we  have 
a  calm  night  we  can  hear  the  crushing  sound  of 
the  drift-ice  in  Bellot  Strait,  which  continues 
open  to  within  500  yards  of  the  Fox  Islands, 
and  emits  dark  chilling  clouds  of  hateful,  pesti- 
lent, abominable  mist. 

The  last  two  days  have  been  very  fine  and 
calm  :  the  men  visited  their  fox,  and  ermine, 
traps,  which  are  secreted  amongst  the  rocks  in  a 
most  mysterious  manner — one  ermine  only  has 
been  taken.  Seven  or  eight  reindeer  and 
some  ptarmigan  were  seen ;  two  of  the  latter  and 
a  hare  were  shot.  We  have  commenced  brewing 
sugar  beer. 

2nd  Nov. — Yery  dull  times.  No  amount  of 
ingenuity  could  make  a  diary  worth  the  paper 
it  is  written  on.  An  occasional  raven  flies  past, 
a  couple  more  ptarmigan  have  been  shot :  an- 
other N.W.  gale  is  blowing,  with  temperature 
down  to  -  12°. 

6th. — Saturday  night.  The  N.W.  gale  blew 
without  intermission  for  seventy  hours,  the  tem- 
perature being  about  —  15° :  we  hoped  that  our 
absent  shipmates  might  be  housed  safely  in  snow 
huts.    This  afternoon  all  doubts  respecting  them 


Nov.  1858.  NAEROW  ESCAPE.  209 

were  dispelled  by  their  arrival  in  good  health, 
but  they  evidently  have  suffered  from  cold  and 
exposure  during  their  absence  of  nineteen  days. 
For  the  first  six  days  they  journeyed  outward 
successfully  ;  on  that  night  they  encamped  upon 
the  ice ;  it  was  at  spring-tide,  a  N.E.  gale 
sprang  up  and  blowing  off  shore,  detached  the 
ice  and  drifted  th.em  off!  The  sea  froze  over 
on  the  cessation  of  the  gale,  and  two  days  after- 
wards they  fortunately  regained  the  land  near 
the  position  from  which  they  were  blown  off; 
they  have  indeed  experienced  much  unusual 
danger  and  suffering  from  cold. 

As  soon  as  they  discovered  that  the  ice  was 
drifting  off  shore  with  them,  they  packed  their 
sledges,  harnessed  the  dogs,  and  passed  the 
night  in  anxious  watching  for  some  chance  to 
escape.  When  the  ice  got  a  little  distance  off 
shore,  it  broke  up  under  the  influence  of  the 
wind  and  sea,  until  the  piece  they  were  upon 
was  scarce  20  yards  in  diameter  :  this  drifted 
across  the  mouth  of  a  wide  inlet  *  until  brought 
up  against  the  opposite  shore.  The  gale  was 
quickly  followed  by  an  intense  frost,  which  in  a 


*  Named  after  Lord  Wrottesley,  in  remembrance  of  the  support 
given  by  him  to  the  expedition,  his  advocacy  of  it  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  and  of  the  facilities  granted  me  by  the  Eoyal  Society — of 
which  he  was  President — for  the  pursuit  of  scientific  observations. 


210  ADVANCED  DEPOTS.  Chap.  XI. 

single  night  formed  ice  sufficiently  strong  to 
bear  them  in  safety  to  the  land,  although  it  bent 
fearfully  beneath  their  weight. 

The  depots  were  eventually  established  in 
latitude  71°;  beyond  this  Lieutenant  Hobson 
did  not  attempt  to  advance,  not  only  because 
their  remaining  provisions  would  not  have  war- 
ranted a  longer  absence,  but  because  the  open 
sea  was  seen  to  beat  against  the  next  headland. 
They  have  lived  in  tents  only,  and  have  not 
experienced  the  heavy  gales  so  frequent  here, 
and  which  are  probably  due  mainly  to  our  posi- 
tion in  Bellot  Strait,  which  performs  the  part 
of  a  funnel  for  both  winds  and  tides  between  the 
two  seas. 

That  the  western  sea  should  still  remain  open 
argues  a  vast  space  southward  for  the  escape  of 
the  ice,  and  prevents  our  western  party  from 
carrying  across  their  depot :  the  attempt  to  do 
so  would  be  extremely  hazardous.  We  must  only 
be  stirring  earlier  in  the  spring.  I  am  truly 
thankful  for  the  safe  return  of  our  travellers,— 
all  this  toil  and  exposure  of  ten  persons  and  ten 
dogs  has  only  advanced  the  depots  30  miles 
further — i.  e.  from  60  to  90  miles  distant  from 
the  ship. 

Hardly  a  particle  of  snow  remains  upon  the 
harbour-ice,  the  recent  gales  having  swept  it 


Nov.  1858.  EFFECT  OF  GALES.  211 

away ;  and  the  porch  of  my  snow-hut  has  been 
fretted  away  to  a  mere  cobweb  by  the  attrition 
of  the  snowdrift :  the  Doctor  and  I  rebuilt  it 
to-day.  Three  reindeer  and  a  wolf  have  been 
seen. 


p  2 


212  DEATH  OF  OUK  ENGINEER.         Chap.  XII. 


OHAPTEE   XII 

Death  of  our  engineer  —  Scarcity  of  game  —  The  cold  unusually 
trying  —  Jolly,  under  adverse  circumstances  —  Petersen's  infor- 
mation—  Eeturn  of  the  sun  of  1859 — Early  spring  sledge 
parties  —  Unusual  severity  of  the  winter  —  Severe  hardships  of 
early  'sledging  —  The  western  shores  of  Boothia  —  Meet  the 
Esquimaux  —  Intelligence  of  Franklin's  ships  — ■  Return  to  the 
'  Fox '  —  Allen  Young  returns. 

Nov.  1th. — Sunday  evening.  Brief  as  is  the  in- 
terval since  my  last  entry,  yet  how  awful  and, 
to  one  of  our  small  company,  how  fatal  it  has 
been !  Yesterday  Mr.  Brand  was  out  shooting 
as  usual,  and  in  robust  health ;  in  the  evening 
Hobson  sat  with  him  for  a  little  time.  Mr. 
Brand  turned  the  conversation  upon  our  posi- 
tion and  employments  last  year ;  he  called  to 
remembrance  poor  Robert  Scott,  then  in  sound 
health,  and  the  fact  of  his  having  carried  our 
"  Guy  Fawkes  round  the  ship  on  the  pre- 
ceding day  twelvemonth,  and  added  mournfully, 
"  Poor  fellow  !  no  one  knows  whose  turn  it  may 
be  to  go  next."  He  finished  his  evening  pipe, 
and  shut  his  cabin  door  shortly  after  nine 
o'clock.     This   morning,  at   seven   o'clock,  his 


Nov.  1858.  THE  FUNERAL.  213 

servant  found  him  lying  upon  the  deck,  a 
corpse,  having  been  several  hours  dead.  Apo- 
plexy appears  to  have  been  the  cause.  He  was 
a  steady,  serious  man,  under  forty  years  of  age, 
and  leaves  a  widow  and  three  or  four  children ; 
what  their  circumstances  are  I  am  not  aware. 

10th. — This  morning  the  remains  of  Mr.  Brand, 
inclosed  in  a  neat  coffin,  were  buried  in  a  grave 
on  shore.  A  suitable  headboard  and  inscription 
will  be  placed  over  it.  From  all  that  I  have 
gathered,  it  appears  that  his  mind  had  been 
somewhat  gloomy  for  the  last  few  days,  dwell- 
ing much  upon  poor  Scott's  sudden  death. 
Whether  he  really  saw  three  reindeer  on  Satur- 
day, watched  their  movements,  and  fired  his 
Minie  rifle  at  them  when  700  yards  distant,  or 
whether  it  was  the  creation  of  a  disordered 
brain,  none  can  tell.  On  his  first  return  on 
board  he  said  he  had  seen  deer  tracks  only. 

We  are  now  without  either  engineer  or  engine- 
driver  :  we  have  only  two  stokers,  and  they 
know  nothing  about  the  machinery.  Our  num- 
bers are  reduced  to  twenty-four,  including  our 
interpreter  and  two  Greenland  Esquimaux. 

15th. — We  have  enjoyed  ten  days  of  mo- 
derate winds  and  calms,  but  the  temperature 
has  fallen  as  low  as  —31°.  This  causes  frost- 
cracks  in  the  ice  across  the  harbour ;  they  will 


214  SCAECITY  OF  GAME.  Chap.  XII. 

freeze  over,  and  others  will  form,  and  gape,  and 
freeze  at  intervals,  so  that  by  next  spring  we 
shall  probably  be  moved  several  inches,  perhaps 
feet,  off  shore. 

Mists  have  obscured  the  sun  of  late,  and  now 
it  does  not  rise  at  all.  We  are  indifferent : 
its  departure  has  become  to  us  a  matter  of 
course.  The  usual  winter  covering  of  snow 
has  been  spread  upon,  deck  rather  more  than 
a  foot  thick.  Its  utility  in  preventing  the 
escape  of  heat  became  at  once  strikingly 
apparent.  Nothing  has  been  seen  but  a  few 
ptarmigan  and  one  reindeer,  which  trotted  off 
towards  the  ship.  Our  bullets  missed  him, 
and  the  dogs  unfortunately  caught  sight  and 
chased  him  away.  I  do  not  think  any  dogs 
could  overtake  a  reindeer  in  this  rough 
country ;  the  rocks  would  speedily  lame  them, 
and  the  snow,  in  many  places,  is  quite  deep 
enough  to  fatigue  them  greatly,  whereas  it 
offers  but  slight  impediment  to  the  deer, 
furnished  as  he  is  with  long  legs  and  spreading 
hoofs. 

29th. — Animals  have  become  very  scarce.  A 
few  ptarmigan  and  willow-grouse  have  been 
seen,  and  three  shot.  Two  days  ago  I  saw  two 
reindeer.  The  eastern  sea  is  frozen  over,  and 
our  old    acquaintance    the  iceberg    in    Prince 


Dec.  1858.  SEVEEE  "WEATHER.  215 

Regent's  Inlet  is  still  visible  on  a  clear  day. 
We  brew  sugar-beer,  and  we  set  nets  for 
seals,  but  catch  none.  The  nets  have  been 
made  and  set  in  favourable  positions  under  the 
ice  by  the  Greenlanders,  so  we  suppose  the 
seals  also  have  migrated  elsewhere ;  if  so,  the 
Esquimaux  could  not  winter  here.  TTe  have 
no  regular  school  this  winter,  but  five  of  the 
men  study  navigation  every  evening  under  the 
guidance  of  Young,  Hobson  and  I  are  doing 
all  we  can  to  make  the  ship  dry,  warm,  and 
comfortable  :  our  large  snow  porches  over  the 
hatchways  are  a  great  improvement. 

bth  Dec. — Cold,  windy  weather,  with  chilling 
mists  from  the  open  water  in  Bellot  Strait. 
TTe  can  seldom  leave  the  shelter  of  the  ship  for 
a  walk  on  shore,  and,  when  we  do,  rarely  see 
even  a  ptarmigan. 

12th. — Very  cold  weather  ;  thermometer  down 
to  —41°,  and  the  breeze  comes  to  us  loaded 
with  mist  from  the  open  water,  causing  the  air 
to  feel  colder  than  it  otherwise  would.  Bellot 
Strait  has  become  a  nuisance,  not  only  from 
this  cause,  but  from  the  strong  winds — purely 
local — which  seldom  cease  to  blow  through  it. 

The  seal  nets  have  produced  nothing;  and 
as  there  are  no  seals,  we  no  longer  wonder 
at  not   seeing   bears.     Three   foxes   have  been 


216  COLD  UNUSUALLY  TEYING.         Chap.  XII. 

trapped  and  a  hare  seen.  Our  canine  force 
numbers  twenty-four  serviceable  dogs  and  six 
puppies ;  but  these,  I  fear,  will  not  be  strong 
enough  for  sledging  by  March.  The  monotony 
of  our  lives  is  vastly  increased  by  want  of 
occupation,  and  confinement,  by  severe  gales,  to 
the  ship  for  five  days  out  of  every  seven. 
The  general  health  is  good,  but  there  is  a 
natural  craving  for  fresh  meat  and  fresh  ve- 
getables— in  great  measure,  perhaps,  because 
they  cannot  be  obtained  ;  but  a  well-filled  letter- 
bag  would  be  more  welcome  than  anything  I 
know  of. 

26th. — Upon  four  days  only  during  the  last 
fourteen  has  the  weather  permitted  us  to  walk. 
I  allude  to  the  wind  as  the  obstacle  to  our 
exercise ;  for  temperature,  when  the  air  is  still , 
is  no  bar  to  any  reasonable  amount  of  it. 
Three  or  four  coveys  of  ptarmigan  have  been 
seen,  and  of  these  I  shot  one  brace.  The  cold 
increases  :  thermometer  has  fallen  to  —  47|-0, 
although  blowing  a  moderate  gale  at  the  time, 
and  the  atmosphere  dense  with  mist. 

Our  Christmas  has  been  spent  with  a  degree 
of  loyalty  to  the  good  old  English  custom  at 
once  spirited  and  refreshing.  All  the  good 
things  which  could  possibly  be  collected  to- 
gether   appeared    upon    the    snow-white    deal 


Dec.  1858.  CHRISTMAS  CHEER.  217 

tables  of  the  men,  as  the  officers  and  myself 
walked  (by  invitation)  round  the  lower  deck. 
Yenison,  beer,  and  a  fresh  stock  'of  clay  pipes, 
appeared  to  be  the  most  prized  luxuries ; 
but  the  variety  and  abundance  of  the  eat- 
ables, tastefully  laid  out,  was  such  as  might 
well  support  the  delusion  which  all  seemed 
desirous  of  imposing  upon  themselves  —  that 
they  were  in  a  land  of  plenty— in  fact,  all  but 
at  home  !  We  contributed  a  large  cheese  and 
some  preserves,  and  candles  superseded  the  ordi- 
nary smoky  lamps.  With  so  many  comforts, 
and  the  existence  of  so  much  genuine  good  feel- 
ing,, their  evening  was  a  joyous  one,  enlivened 
also  by  songs  and  music. 

Whilst  all  was  order  and  merriment  within 
the  ship,  the  scene  without  was  widely  dif- 
ferent. A  fierce  north-wester  howled  loudly 
through  the  rigging,  the  snowdrift  rustled 
swiftly  past,  no  star  appeared  through  the 
oppressive  gloom,  and  the  thermometer  varied 
between  76°  and  80°  below  the  freezing  point. 
At  one  time  it  was  impossible  to  visit  the 
magnetic  observatory,  although  only  210  yards 
distant,  and  with  a  rope  stretched  along, 
breast  high,  upon  poles  the  whole  way.  The 
officers   discharged  this    duty  for  the    quarter- 


218  NEW  YEAE'S  DAY.  Chap.  XII. 

masters  of  the  watches  during  the  day  and 
night. 

1st  Jan.  1859. — This  being  Saturday  night 
as  well  as  New  Years  Day,  "  Sweethearts  and 
Wives  "  were  remembered  with  even  more  than 
the  ordinary  feeling.  New  year's  eve  was  cele- 
brated with  all  the  joy  fulness  which  ardent  hope 
can  inspire  :  and  we  have  reasonable  ground  for 
strong  hope.  At  midnight  the  expiration  of  the 
old  year  and  commencement  of  the  new  one  was 
announced  to  me  by  the  band — flutes,  accordion, 
and  gong — striking  up  at  my  door.  Some 
songs  were  sung,  and  the  performance  con- 
cluded with  "  God  save  the  Queen  :"  the  few 
who  could  find  space  in  our  mess-room  sang  the 
chorus;  but  this  by  no  means  satisfied  all  the 
others  who  were  without  and  unable  to  show 
themselves  to  the  officers,  so  they  echoed  the 
chorus,  and  the  effect  was  very  pleasing.  Our 
new  year's  day  has  been  commemorated  with 
all  the  substantial  of  Christmas  fare,  but  with- 
out so  much  display, — less  tailoring  in  pastry, 
not  quite  so  much  clipping  of  dough  into  roses, 
and  anchors,  and  nondescript  animals,  &c.  &c. 
The  past  week  has  been  cold  and  stormy ; 
it  now  blows  strong,  and  the  temperature  is 
-44°, 

On  the  29th  a  few  fresh  tracks  of  animals 


Jan.  1859.  INTENSE  COLD.  219 

and  a  ptarmigan  were  seen :  yesterday  I  saw 
three  ptarmigan.  December  proved  to  be  an 
unusually  cold  month,  its  mean  temperature 
being  -33°;  and  it  was  rendered  more  than 
ordinarily  dark  and  gloomy  by  continual  mists 
from  Bellot  Strait.  This  open  water  adds  se- 
riously to  the  drawbacks  of  a  spot  already  suffi- 
ciently cheerless,  gameless,  and  "  wind-loved." 

§th. — Another  week  of  uniform  temperature 
of  —  40°,  and  confinement  to  the  ship  by  strong 
winds ;  the  atmosphere  is  loaded  with  enveloping 
mists  which  impart  a  raw  and  surprisingly  keen 
edge  to  the  chilling  blasts,  blasts  that  no  human 
nose  can  endure  without  blanching,  be  its  pro- 
portions what  they  may.  It  is  wonderful  how 
the  dogs  stand  it,  and  without  apparent  incon- 
venience, unless  their  fur  happen  to  be  thin, 
They  lie  upon  the  snow  under  the  lee  of  the 
ship,  with  no  other  protection  from  the  wea- 
ther. 

To-day,  the  winds  being  light  and  tempera- 
ture up  to  —  30°,  we  enjoyed  walks  on  shore, 
although  the  mist  continued  so  dense  as  to  limit 
our  view  to  a  couple  of  hundred  yards. 

I  learn  from  Petersen  that  the  natives  of 
Smith's  Sound  are  well  acquainted  with  the 
continuation  of  its  shores  considerably  beyond 
the  farthest  point  reached  by  Kane's  exploring 


220  PETEKSEN'S  INFOEMATION.         Chap.  XII. 

parties,  but  unfortunately  no  one  thought  of 
getting  them  to  delineate  their  local  knowledge 
upon  paper.  They  spoke  much  of  a  large 
island  near  the  west  coast  called  "  Umingmak  " 
(musk  ox)  Island,  where  there  was  much  open 
water,  abounding  with  walrus,  and  where  some 
of  their  people  formerly  lived.* 

Esquimaux  exist  upon  the  east  coast  of  Green- 
land as  far  north  as  lat.  76° ;  how  much  farther 
north  is  not  known.  They  are  separated  from 
the  South  Greenlanders  by  hundreds  of  miles  of 
icebound  coasts  and  impassable  glaciers. 

Many  centuries  ago  a  milder  climate  may  and 
probably  did  exist,  and  a  corresponding  modi- 
fication of  glacier  and  a  sea  less  ice-encumbered 
might  have  rendered^  the  migration  of  these 
poor  people  from  the  south  to  their  present  iso- 
lated abodes  practicable ;  but  to  me  it  appears 
much  more  easy  to  suppose  that  they  migrated 
eastward  from  the  northern  outlet  of  Smith's 
Sound. 

21st. — More  pleasant  weather  since  my  last 
entry  ;  and  although  last  night  the  temperature 
fell  to  —47°,  yet  it  has  generally  been  mild; 
once  it  rose  to  —14°,  but  amply  made  amends  by 
falling  to  —38°  within  twelve  hours.     We  have 


*  Petersen  conversed  with  two  men  who  had  themselves  been  up 
to  Umingmak  Island. 


WALRUSES  — A   FAMILY  PARTY 
From  a  Sketch  by  Captain  Allen  Young 


Jak.  185S  EETTEV  OF  THE  SU2JT,  1859.  221 

enjoyed  much  of  the  moon's  presence  for  the  last 
ten  days,  but  now  she  is  waning  and  hastening 
away  to  the  south.  Daylight  increases  in 
strength  and  duration,  consequently  we  walk 
more,  and  see  more,  and  the  winter's  gloom 
gives  plape  to  activity  and  cheerfulness.  Several 
ptarmigan,  three  or  four  hares,  a  snowy  owl, 
and  a  bear-track,  have  at  various  times  been 
seen,  Young  has  shot  four  ptarmigan,  and  I 
have  shot  a  couple  more  and  a  hare,  and  the 
men  have  trapped  two  fixes, 

On  board  the  ship  the  preparations  for  tra- 
velling take  precedence  of  all  other  occupations. 

26th. — Part  of  the  sun's  disc  loomed  above 
the  horizon  to-day,  somewhat  swollen  and  dis- 
figured by  the  misty  atmosphere,  but  looking 
benevolent  withal.  I  happened  to  be  diligently 
traversing  the  rocky  hill-sides  in  the  hope  of 
finding  some  solitary  hare  dozing  in  fancied 
security,  when  the  sun  thus  appeared  in  view. 
and  halted  to  feast  my  eyes  upon  the  glorious 
sight,  and  scan  the  features  of  our  returning 
friend.  Hope  and  promise  mingled  in  his  bright 
bearer  Again  I  moved  upward,  and  with  more 
elastic  step  ;  for  now  the  sun  of  1859  was  shining 
upon  all  nature  around  me. 

2nd  February, — A  lovely,  calm,  bright  day, 
and    beautifully  clear,   except    over  the  water- 


222  EAKLY  SPRING  SLEDGE-PARTIES.     Chap.  XII. 

space  in  Bellot  Strait,  where  rests  a  densely 
black  mist,  very  strongly  resembling  the  West 
Indian  rain-squall  as  it  looms  upon  the  distant 
horizon.  The  increasing  sunlight  is  cheering, 
but  void  of  heat,  and  the  mercury  is  often 
frozen.  A  few  more  ptarmigan  have  been 
shot. 

Our  remaining  serviceable  dogs,  twenty-two 
in  number,  have  been  divided  with  great  care 
into  three  teams  of  seven  each ;  the  odd  dog  is 
added  to  my  team,  as  my  journey  is  expected  to 
be  the  longest.  The  different  sledge-parties  will 
now  feed  up  their  dogs  without  limit,  so  that 
the  utmost  degree  of  work  may  be  got  out  of 
them  hereafter. 

January  has  been  slightly  colder  than  De- 
cember, mean  temperature  being  —  33J°,  but 
there  has  been  rather  less  wind. 

8th. — All  will  be  ready  for  the  departure  of 
Young  and  myself  upon  our  respective  journeys 
upon  the  morning  of  the  14th. 

Mr.  Petersen  and  Alexander  Thompson  ac- 
company me,  with  two  dog-sledges,  and  fifteen 
dogs,  dragging  twenty-four  days'  provisions. 
My  object  is  to  communicate  with  the  Boothians 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  magnetic  pole.  Young 
takes  his  party  of  four  men  and  his  dog-sledge  ; 
he  will  carry  forward  provisions  for  his  spring 


Feb.  1859.  ATTACK  OF  SCUKVY.  223 

exploration  of  the  shores  of  Prince  of  Wales' 
Land,  between  the  extreme  points  reached  by 
Lieutenants  Osborn  and  Browne  in  1851. 

On  the  3rd  I  walked  for  seven  and  a  half 
hours,  and  saw  two  reindeer,  but  could  not 
approach  within  shot.  Young  examined  the 
water-space  in  the  strait,  and  finds  it  washes 
both  shores,  but  extends  east  and  west  only 
about  one  mile.  The  Doctor  has  seen  a  seal  and 
a  dovekie  sporting  in  it. 

For  the  last  four  days  strong  winds  and  in- 
tense cold  have  prevented  us  from  rambling 
over  the  hills,  besides  which  the  minor  prepara- 
tions for  travelling  have  given  us  more  occupa- 
tion on  board. 

James  Pitcher  has  got  a  slight  touch  of 
scurvy ;  his  gums  are  inflamed ;  and  now  it 
comes  out  that  he  dislikes  preserved  meats,  and 
has  not  eaten  any  since  he  has  been  in  the  ship  ! 
He  has  lived  upon  salt  meat  and  preserved 
vegetables,  except  for  the  very  short  periods  in 
summer  when  birds  could  be  obtained.  He  is 
rather  a  "  used-up"  old  fellow,  too  much  so  for 
our  severe  sledge-work,  therefore  is  one  of  the 
few  who  will  remain  to  take  care  of  the  ship. 
That  he  should  have  retained  his  health  for 
seventeen  months,  under  the  circumstances, 
speaks  well  for  the  wholesomeness  and  quality 


224:  UNUSUALLY  SEVEKE  WEATHEE.    Chap.  XII. 

of  our  provisions,  and  the  ventilation  and  clean- 
liness of  the  ship. 

10/A.— Extremely  cold,  with  dense  mists  from 
the  open  water.  Yesterday  eight  ptarmigan 
and  a  sooty  fox  were  seen.  We  have  consumed 
the  last  of  our  venison  ;  it  supplied  us  for  three 
days.  We  are  drinking  out  a  cask  of  sugar-beer, 
which  is  a  very  mild  but  agreeable  beverage  ; 
we  make  it  on  board. 

Sunday  night,  13th. — To-morrow  morning,  if 
fine,  Young  and  I  set  off  upon  our  travels.  He 
has  advanced  a  portion  of  his  sledge-load  to  the 
west  side  of  the  water  in  Bellot  Strait,  having 
been  obliged  to  carry  it  overland  for  about  a 
mile  in  order  to  get  there.  I  have  explored  the 
route  to  the  long  lake,  and  find  we  can  reach 
it  without  crossing  elevated  or  uncovered  land. 
I  saw  two  reindeer,  and  Young  saw  about 
twenty  ptarmigan. 

The  mean  temperature  of  February  up  to  this 
date  is  —  33*2°,  being  an  exact  continuation  of 
January.  I  confess  to  some  anxiety  upon  this 
point,  as  hitherto  the  winter  has  been  unusually 
severe,  and  the  journeys  to  be  performed  will 
occupy  more  than  twenty  days.  Besides,  we 
shall  be  earlier  in  motion  than  any  of  the  pre- 
vious travellers,  unless  we  are  to  make  an  ex- 
ception in  favour  of  Mr.  Kennedy's  trip  of  30 


Mae.  1859.     JOURNEY    TO  CAPE  VICTORIA.  225 

miles  from  Batty  Bay  to  Fury  Beach,  between 
the  5th  and  10th  January,  during  which  time 
the  lowest  temperature  registered  was  only 
—  25°.  Should  either  Young  or  myself  remain 
absent  beyond  the  period  for  which  we  carry 
provisions,  Hobson  is  to  send  a  party  in  search 
of  us.     A  sooty  fox  has  been  captured  lately. 

15th. — A  strong  N.W.  wind,  with  a  tempera- 
ture of  —40°,  confines  us  on  board.  One  cannot 
face  these  winds,  therefore  it  is  fortunate  that 
we  did  not  start,  the  ship  being  much  more 
comfortable  than  a  snow-hut. 

20th  March. — Already  I  have  been  a  week  on 
board,  and  so  difficult  is  it  to  settle  down  to 
anything  like  sedentary  occupation,  after  a 
period  of  continued  vigorous  action,  that  even 
now  I  can  scarcely  sit  still  to  scribble  a  brief 
outline  of  my  trip  to  Cape  Victoria. 

On  the  morning  of  the  17th  February  the 
wreather  moderated  sufficiently  for  us  to  set  out ; 
the  temperature  throughout  the  day  varied  be- 
tween —  31°  and  —  42^°.  Leaving  Young's 
party  to  pass  on  through  the  strait,  I  proceeded 
by  way  of  the  Long  Lake,  which  I  found  to  be 
10 J  geographical  miles  in  length,  with  an  ave- 
rage width  of  half  a  mile. 

We  built  our  snow-hut  upon  the  west  coast, 

Q 


226  SEVERE  HARDSHIPS.  Chap.  XII. 

near  Pemmican  Kock,  after  a  march  of  19  or  20 
geographical  miles.  We  always  speak  of  geo- 
graphical miles  with  reference  to  our  marches ; 
six  geographical  are  equal  to  seven  English 
miles. 

On  the  following  day  the  old  N.W.  wind 
sprang  up  with  renewed  vigour,  and  the  ther- 
mometer fell  to  -  48° ;  the  cold  was  therefore 
intense. 

On  the  third  day  most  of  our  dogs  went  lame 
in  consequence  of  sore  feet;  the  intense  cold 
seems  to  be  the  principal,  if  not  the  only  cause, 
having  hardened  the  surface-snow  beyond  what 
their  feet  can  endure.  I  was  obliged  to  throw 
off  a  part  of  the  provisions ;  still  we  could  not 
make  more  than  15  or  18  miles  daily.  We  of 
course  walked,  so  that  the  dogs  had  only  the  re- 
maining provisions  and  clothing  to  drag,  yet 
several  of  them  repeatedly  fell  down  in  fits. 

For  several  days  this  severe  weather  conti- 
nued, the  mercury  of  my  artificial  horizon  re- 
maining frozen  (its  freezing-point  is  —39°); 
and  our  rum,  at  first  thick  like  treacle,  required 
thawing  latterly,  when  the  more  fluid  and 
stronger  part  had  been  used.  We  travelled 
each  day  until  dusk,  and  then  were  occupied  for 
a  couple  of  hours  in  building  our  snow-hut.  The 
four  walls  were  run  up  until  5 \  feet  high,  in- 


Mae.  1859.  TRAVELLING  ROUTINE.  227 

clining  inwards  as  much  as  possible ;  over  these 
our  tent  was  laid  to  form  a  roof;  we  could  not 
afford  the  time  necessary  to  construct  a  dome  of 
snow. 

Our  equipment  consisted  of  a  very  small 
brown-holland  tent,  macintosh  floor-cloth,  and 
felt  robes  ;  besides  this,  each  man  had  a  bag 
of  double  blanketing,  and  a  pair  of  fur  boots,  to 
sleep  in.  "We  wore  mocassins  over  the  pieces 
of  blanket  in  which  our  feet  were  wrapped  up, 
and,  with  the  exception  of  a  change  of  this 
foot-gear,  carried  no  spare  clothes.  The  daily 
routine  was  as  follows  : — -I  led  the  way;  Peter- 
sen and  Thompson  followed,  conducting  their 
sledges ;  and  in  this  manner  we  trudged  on 
for  eight  or  ten  hours  without  halting,  except 
when  necessary  to  disentangle  the  dog-harness. 
When  we  halted  for  the  night,  Thompson  and  I 
usually  sawed  out  the  blocks  of  compact  snow 
and  carried  them  to  Petersen,  who  acted  as  the 
master-mason  in  building  the  snow-hut  :  the 
hour  and  a  half  or  two  hours  usually  employed 
in  erecting  the  edifice  was  the  most  disagreeable 
part  of  the  day's  labour,  for,  in  addition  to 
being  already  well  tired  and  desiring  repose,  we 
became  thoroughly  chilled  whilst  standing 
about.  When  the  hut  was  finished,  the  dogs 
were   fed,    and    here   the    great   difficulty   was 

Q  2 


228  TRAVELLING  ROUTINE.  Chap.  XII. 

to  insure  the  weaker  ones  their  full  share  in  the 
scramble  for  supper ;  then  commenced  the 
operation  of  unpacking  the  sledge,  and  carrying 
into  our  hut  everything  necessary  for  ourselves, 
such  as  provision  and  sleeping  gear,  as  well  as 
all  boots,  fur  mittens,  and  even  the  sledge  dog- 
harness,  to  prevent  the  dogs  from  eating  them 
during  our  sleeping  hours.  The  door  was  now 
blocked  up  with  snow,  the  cooking-lamp  lighted, 
foot-gear  changed,  diary  written  up,  watches 
wound,  sleeping  bags  wriggled  into,  pipes 
lighted,  and  the  merits  of  the  various  dogs 
discussed,  until  supper  was  ready ;  the  supper 
swallowed,  the  upper  robe  or  coverlet  was 
pulled  over,  and  then  to  sleep. 

Next  morning  came  breakfast,  a  struggle 
to  get  into  frozen  mocassins,  after  which  the 
sledges  were  packed,  and  another  day's  march 
commenced. 

In  these  little  huts  we  usually  slept  warm 
enough,  although  latterly,  when  our  blankets 
and  clothes  became  loaded  with  ice,  we  felt  the 
cold  severely.  When  our  low  doorway  was 
carefully  blocked  up  with  snow,  and  the  cook- 
ing-lamp alight,  the  temperature  quickly  rose 
so  that  the  walls  became  glazed,  and  our  bedding 
thawed  ;  but  the  cooking  over,  or  the  doorway 
partially  opened,  it  as  quickly  fell  again,  so  that 


Mar.  1859.     WESTERN  SHORES  OF  BOOTHIA.  229 

it  was  impossible  to  sleep,  or  even  to  hold  one's 
pannikin  of  tea,  without  putting  our  mitts  on, 
so  intense  was  the  cold  ! 

On  the  21st  I  visited  our  main  depot  laid  out 
last  October ;  it  was  safe,  but  unfortunately  had 
been  carried  far  into  TTrottesley  Inlet,  and  only 
40  miles  south  of  Bellot  Strait. 

On  the  22nd  an  easterly  gale  prevented  our 
marching,  but  we  had  the  good  fortune  to  shoot 
a  bear,  so  consoled  ourselves  with  fresh  steaks, 
and  the  dogs  with  an  ample  feed  of  unfrozen 
flesh — a  treat  they  had  not  enjoyed  for  many 
months. 

"We  coasted  along  a  granitic  land,  deeply 
indented  and  fringed  with  islands,  and  found  it 
to  be  the  general  characteristic  of  the  Boothian 
shore  from  Bellot  Strait,  until  we  had  accom- 
plished half  the  distance  to  the  magnetic  pole  ; 
limestone  then  appeared,  and  the  remainder  of 
our  journey  was  performed  along  a  low,  straight 
shore,  which  afforded  us  much  greater  facility 
for  sledging. 

Throughout  the  whole  distance  we  found  a 
mixture  of  heavy  old  ice  and  light  ice  of  last 
autumn,  in  many  places  squeezed  up  into  pack ; 
but  as  we  advanced  southward  aged  floes  were 
less  frequently  seen. 


230  WAGES  OF  NATIVE  BUILDERS.      Chap.  XII. 

On  the  1st  of  March  we  halted  to  encamp  at 
about  the  position  of  the  magnetic  pole — for  no 
cairn  remains  to  mark  the  spot.  I  had  almost 
concluded  that  my  journey  would  prove  to  be 
a  work  of  labour  in  vain,  because  hitherto  no 
traces  of  Esquimaux  had  been  met  with,  and,  in 
consequence  of  the  reduced  state  of  our  provi- 
sions and  the  wretched  condition  of  the  poor 
dogs — six  out  of  the  fifteen  being  quite  useless 
— I  could  only  advance  one  more  march. 

But  we  had  done  nothing  more  than  look 
ahead ;  when  we  halted,  and  turned  round,  great 
indeed  was  my  surprise  and  joy  to  see  four  men 
walking  after  us.  Petersen  and  I  immediately 
buckled  on  our  revolvers  and  advanced  to  meet 
them.  The  natives  halted,  made  fast  their  dogs, 
laid  down  their  spears,  and  received  us  without 
any  evidence  of  surprise.  They  told  us  they  had 
been  out  upon  a  seal  hunt  on  the  ice,  and  were 
returning  home  :  we  proposed  to  join  them,  and 
all  were  soon  in  motion  again ;  but  another  hour 
brought  sunset,  and  we  learned  that  their  snow 
village  of  eight  huts  was  still  a  long  way  off, 
so  we  hired  them,  at  the  rate  of  a  needle  for 
each  Esquimaux,  to  build  us  a  hut,  which  they 
completed  in  an  hour ;  it  was  8  feet  in  diameter, 
5i  feet  high,  and  in  it  we  all  passed  the  night. 


Mar.  1859.     INFORMATION  FROM  ESQUIMAUX.  231 

Perhaps  the  records  of  architecture  do  not  fur- 
nish another  instance  of  a  dwelling-house  so 
cheaply  constructed ! 

We  gave  them  to  understand  that  we  were 
anxious  to  barter  with  them,  and  very  cautiously 
approached  the  real  object  of  our  visit.  A  naval 
button  upon  one  of  their  dresses  afforded  the 
opportunity ;  it  came,  they  said,  from  some  white 
people  who  were  starved  upon  an  island  where 
there  are  salmon  (that  is,  in  a  river)  ;  and 
that  the  iron  of  which  their  knives  were  made 
came  from  the  same  place.  One  of  these  men 
said  he  had  been  to  the  island  to  obtain  wood 
and  iron,  but  none  of  them  had  seen  the  white 
men.  Another  man  had  been  to  "  Ei-wil-lik  " 
(Eepulse  Bay),  and  counted  on  his  fingers  seven 
individuals  of  Rae's  party  whom  he  remembered 
having  seen. 

These  Esquimaux  had  nothing  to  eat,  and  no 
other  clothing  than  their  ordinary  double  dresses 
of  fur ;  they  would  not  eat  our  biscuit  or  salt  pork, 
but  took  a  small  quantity  of  bear's  blubber  and 
some  water.  They  slept  in  a  sitting  posture, 
with  their  heads  leaning  forward  on  their 
breasts.  Next  morning  we  travelled  about  10 
miles  further,  by  which  time  we  were  close  to 
Cape  Victoria  ;  beyond  this  I  would  not  go, 
much  as  they  wished  to  lead  us  on ;  we  there- 


232  BARTER  WITH  NATIVES.  Chap.  XII. 

fore  landed,  and  they  built  us  a  commodious 
snow  hut  in  half  an  hour ;  this  done,  we  dis- 
played to  them  our  articles  for  barter — knives, 
files,  needles,  scissors,  beads,  &c.  —  expressed 
our  desire  to  trade  with  them,  and  promised 
to  purchase  everything  which  belonged  to  the 
starved  white  men,  if  they  would  come  to  us  on 
the  morrow.  Notwithstanding  that  the  weather 
was  now  stormy  and  bitterly  cold,  two  of  the 
natives  stripped  off  their  outer  coats  of  reindeer 
skin  and  bartered  them  for  a  knife  each. 

Despite  the  gale  which  howled  outside,  we 
spent  a  comfortable  night  in  our  roomy  hut. 

Next  morning  the  entire  village  population 
arrived,  amounting  to  about  forty-five  souls, 
from  aged  people  to  infants  in  arms,  and  barter- 
ing commenced  very  briskly.  First  of  all  we 
purchased  all  the  relics  of  the  lost  expedition, 
consisting  of  six  silver  spoons  and  forks,  a 
silver  medal,  the  property  of  Mr.  A.  M'Donald, 
assistant  surgeon,  part  of  a  gold  chain,  several 
buttons,  and  knives  made  of  the  iron  and 
wood  of  the  wreck,  also  bows  and  arrows  con- 
structed of  materials  obtained  from  the  same 
source.  Having  secured  these,  we  purchased 
a  few  frozen  salmon,  some  seals'  blubber  and 
venison,  but  could  not  prevail  upon  them  to 
part  with  more  than  one   of  their  fine  dogs. 


Mar.  1859.    INTELLIGENCE  OF  FRANKLIN'S  SHIPS.     233 

One  of  their  sledges  was  made  of  two  stout 
pieces  of  wood,  which  might  have  been  a  boat's 
keel. 

All  the  old  people  recollected  the  visit  of  the 
'  Victory.'  An  old  man  told  me  his  name  was 
"  Ooblooria  :"  I  recollected  that  Sir  James  Ross 
had  employed  a  man  of  that  name  as  a  guide, 
and  reminded  him  of  it ;  he  was,  in  fact,  the 
same  individual,  and  he  inquired  after  Sir  James 
by  his  Esquimaux  name  of  "  Agglugga." 

I  inquired  after  the  man  who  was  furnished 
with  a  wooden  leg  by  the  carpenter  of  the 
6  Victory  :'  no  direct  answer  was  given,  but  his 
daughter  was  pointed  out  to  me.  Petersen  ex- 
plained to  me  that  they  do  not  like  alluding  in 
any  way  to  the  dead,  and  that,  as  my  question 
was  not  answered,  it  was  certain  the  man  was 
no  longer  amongst  the  living. 

None  of  these  people  had  seen  the  whites : 
one  man  said  he  had  seen  their  bones  upon  the 
island  where  they  died,  but  some  were  buried. 
Petersen  also  understood  him  to  say  that  the 
boat  was  crushed  by  the  ice.  Almost  all  of 
them  had  part  of  the  plunder ;  they  say  they 
will  be  here  when  we  return,  and  will  trade 
more  with  us ;  also  that  we  shall  find  natives 
upon  Montreal  Island  at  the  time  of  our  arriving 
there. 


234  RAE'S  STATEMENTS  CONFIRMED.      Chap.  XII. 

Next  morning,  4th  March,  several  natives 
came  to  us  again.  I  bought  a  spear  6J  feet 
long  from  a  man  who  told  Petersen  distinctly 
that  a  ship  having  three  masts  had  been  crushed 
by  the  ice  out  in  the  sea  to  the  west  of  King 
William's  Island,  but  that  all  the  people  landed 
safely;  he  was  not  one  of  those  who  were  eye- 
witnesses of  it ;  the  ship  sunk,  so  nothing  was  ob- 
tained by  the  natives  from  her ;  all  that  they  have 
got,  he  said,  came  from  the  island  in  the  river. 
The  spear  staff  appears  to  have  been  part  of  the 
gunwale  of  a  light  boat.  One  old  man,  "  Oo-na- 
lee,"  made  a  rough  sketch  of  the  coast-line  with 
his  spear  upon  the  snow,  and  said  it  was  eight 
journeys  to  where  the  ship  sank,  pointing  in  the 
direction  of  Cape  Felix.  I  can  make  nothing 
out  of  his  rude  chart. 

The  information  we  obtained  bears  out  the 
principal  statements  of  Dr.  Rae,  and  also  ac- 
counts for  the  disappearance  of  one  of  the  ships ; 
but  it  gives  no  clue  to  the  whereabouts  of  the 
other,  nor  the  direction  whence  the  ships  came. 
One  thing  is  tolerably  certain — the  crews  did 
not  at  any  time  land  upon  the  Boothian  shore. 

These  Esquimaux  were  all  well  clothed  in 
reindeer  dresses,  and  looked  clean ;  they  ap- 
peared to  have  abundance  of  provisions,  but 
scarcely  a  scrap  of  wood  was  seen  amongst  them 


Mar.  1859.  ESQUIMAUX  WOMEN.  235 

which  had  not  come  from  the  lost  expedition. 
Their  sledges,  with  the  exception  of  the  one 
already  spoken  of,  were  wretched  little  affairs, 
consisting  of  two  frozen  rolls  of  sealskins  coated 
with  ice,  and  attached  to  each  other  by  bones, 
which  served  as  the  crossbars.  The  men  were 
stout,  hearty  fellows,  and  the  women  arrant 
thieves,  but  all  were  goodhumoured  and  friendly. 
The  women  were  decidedly  plain ;  in  fact,  this 
term  would  have  been  flattering  to  most  of 
them ;  jet  there  was  a  degree  of  vivacity  and 
gentleness  in  the  manners  of  some  that  soon 
reconciled  us  to  these  Arctic  specimens  of  the 
fair  sex.  They  had  fine  eyes  and  teeth,  as  well 
as  very  small  hands,  and  the  young  girls  had  a 
fresh  rosy  hue  not  often  seen  in  combination 
with  olive  complexions. 

Esquimaux  mothers  carry  their  infants  on 
their  backs  within  their  large  fur  dresses,  and 
where  the  babes  can  only  be  got  at  by  pulling 
them  out  over  the  shoulder.  Whilst  intent 
upon  my  bargaining  for  silver  spoons  and  forks 
belonging  to  Franklin's  expedition,  at  the  rate 
of  a  few  needles  or  a  knife  for  each  relic,  one 
pertinacious  old  dame,  after  having  obtained  all 
she  was  likely  to  get  from  me  for  herself,  pulled 
out  her  infant  by  the  arm,  and  quietly  held  the 
poor  little  creature  (for  it  was  perfectly  naked) 


236  RETURN  TO  THE  'FOX.'  Chap.  XII. 

before  me  in  the  breeze,  the  temperature  at  the 
time  being  60°  below  freezing  point !  Petersen 
informed  me  that  she  was  begging  for  a  needle 
for  her  child.  I  need  not  say  I  gave  it  one  as 
expeditiously  as  possible ;  yet  sufficient  time 
elapsed  before  the  infant  was  again  put  out 
of  sight  to  alarm  me  considerably  for  its  safety 
in  such  a  temperature.  The  natives,  however, 
seemed  to  think  nothing  of  what  looked  to 
me  like  cruel  exposure  of  a  naked  baby. 

We  now  returned  to  the  ship  with  all  the 
speed  we  could  command ;  but  stormy  weather 
occasioned  two  days'  delay,  so  that  we  did  not 
arrive  on  board  until  the  14th  March.  Though 
considerably  reduced  in  flesh,  I  and  my  compa- 
nions were  in  excellent  health,  and  blessed  with 
insatiable  appetites.  On  washing  our  faces, 
which  had  become  perfectly  black  from  the  soot 
of  our  blubber  lamp,  sundry  scars,  relics  of  frost- 
bites, appeared ;  and  the  tips  of  our  fingers, 
from  constant  frost-bites,  had  become  as  callous 
as  if  seared  with  hot  iron. 

In  this  journey  of  twenty-five  days  we  tra- 
velled 360  geographical  miles  (420  English), 
and  completed  the  discovery  of  the  coast-line  of 
continental  America,  thereby  adding  about  120 
miles  to  our  charts.  The  mean  temperature 
throughout  the  journey  was  30°  below  zero  of 


Mar.  1859.  ARCTIC  FARE.  237 

Fahrenheit,  or  62°  below  the  freezing  point  of 
water. 

On  reaching  the  ship,  I  at  once  assembled  my 
small  crew,  and  told  them  of  the  information  we 
had  obtained,  pointing  out  that  there  still  re- 
mained one  of  the  ships  unaccounted  for,  and 
therefore  it  was  necessary  to  carry  out  all  our 
projected  lines  of  search. 

During  this  journey  I  acquired  the  Arctic 
accomplishment  of  eating  frozen  blubber,  in  deli- 
cate little  slices,  and  vastly  preferred  it  to  frozen 
pork.  At  the  present  moment  I  do  not  think  I 
could  even  taste  it,  but  the  same  privation  and 
hunger  which  induced  me  to  eat  of  such  food 
would  doubtless  enable  me  again  to  partake  of 
it  very  kindly. 

I  shot  a  couple  of  foxes  which  came  playing 
about  the  dogs ;  conscious  of  their  superior 
speed,  they  were  very  impudent,  snapping  at 
the  dogs'  tails,  and  passing  almost  under  their 
noses.  I  shot  these  foxes,  intending  to  eat 
them ;  but  the  dogs  anticipated  me  with  re- 
spect to  one  ;  the  other  we  feasted  off  at  our 
mess-table,  and  thought  it  by  no  means  bad ; 
it  was  insipid,  but  decidedly  better  to  our  tastes 
than  preserved  meat. 

Captain  Allen  Young  and  his  party  had  re- 
turned on  board  on  the  3rd  of  March,   having 


238  CAPTAIN  YOUNG'S  JOUKNEY.        Chap.  XII. 

placed  their  depot  upon  the  shore  of  Prince  of 
"Wales'  Land,  about  70  miles  S.W.  of  the  ship. 
Young  found  the  ice  in  Bellot  Strait  so  rough 
as  to  be  impassable,  and  was  obliged  to  adopt 
the  lake  route.  Prince  of  Wales'  Land  was 
found  to  be  composed  of  limestone ;  the  shore 
was  low,  and  fringed  for  a  distance  of  ten 
miles  to  seaward  with  an  ancient  land-floe.  The 
remaining  width  of  the  strait  between  this 
land  (North  Somerset)  and  Prince  of  Wales' 
Land  was  about  15  miles,  and  this  space  was 
composed  of  ice  formed  since  September  last ; 
this  was  the  water  we  looked  at  so  anxiously 
last  autumn  from  .Cape  Bird  and  Pemmican 
Rock.  His  party  lived  in  their  tent,  protected 
from  the  wind  by  snow  walls,  and,  like  our- 
selves, escaped  with  a  few  trivial  frost-bites.  So 
far  all  was  very  satisfactory,  the  general  health 
good,  and  the  eagerness  of  my  crew  to  com- 
mence travelling  quite  charming. 

Young  proposed  carrying  out  another  depot 
to  the  north-west,  in  order  to  explore  well  up 
Peel  Strait,  and  would  have  started  on  the  17th, 
but  the  weather  was  too  severe.  The  day  was 
spent  in  a  fruitless  search  for  three  casks  of 
sugar — a  serious  and  unaccountable  deficiency— 
but,  as  it  was  important  to  replace  them  with 


Mar.  1859.  SUGAK  MISSING.  239 

as  little  delay  as  possible,  Young  set  off  on  the 
18th,  although  it  blew  a  N.W.  gale  at 'the  time, 
with  two  men  and  eighteen  dogs,  for  Fury 
Beach  ;  failing  to  find  the  requisite  quantity 
there,  he  will  go  on  to  Port  Leopold. 


240 


DR.  WALKER'S  SLEDGE  JOURNEY.    Chap.  XIII. 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

Dr.  Walker's  sledge  journey  —  Snow-blindness  attacks  Young's 
party  —  Departure  of  all  sledge-parties  —  Equipment  of  sledge- 
parties  —  Meet  the  same  party  of  natives  —  Intelligence  of  the 
second  ship  —  My  depot  robbed  —  Part  company  from  Hobson  — 
Matty  Island  —  Deserted  snow-huts — ■  Native  sledges  —  Land 
on  King  William  Land. 


Doctor  Walker's  zeal  for  travelling  was  not 
to  be  restrained ;  I  therefore  gladly  availed 
myself  of  his  willingness  to  go  with  a  party  to 
Cape  Airey  and  bring  back  the  depot  of  pro- 
visions left  there  in  August  last.  These  trips 
will  delay  our  spring  journeys  for  a  few  days. 

During  my  absence  from  the  '  Fox '  the  wea- 
ther was  often  stormy,  and  temperature  un- 
usually low  ;  the  mean  for  the  month  of  February 
was  —  36°,  showing  it  to  be  one  of  the  coldest 
on  record.  "When  possible  the  men  were  allowed 
to  go  out  shooting,  and  obtained  fifty  or  sixty 
ptarmigan  and  a  hare ;  a  few  foxes  were  taken 
in  traps,  and  two  reindeer  were  seen. 

Yesterday  two  bears  came  near  the  ship,  but 
were  frightened  away  by  the  dogs.  Hobson 
shot  three  ptarmigan.  To-day  I  rambled  over 
the  hills,  the  weather  being  fine,  and  saw  a  hare. 


Mar.  1859.  DR.  WALKER'S  RETURN.  241 

29th. — Continued  fine  weather.  A  couple 
more  foxes  and  a  lemming  in  its  brown  coat 
have  been  captured,  and  a  hare  and  four  ptar- 
migan shot.  This  fine  bright  weather  seems 
to  have  awakened  the  lemmings  and  ermines; 
their  tracks,  which  were  very  rarely  seen  during 
winter,  are  now  tolerably  numerous ;  foxes 
appear  in  greater  numbers,  probably  following 
up  the  ptarmigan  from  the  south.  The  ther- 
mometer ranges  between  zero  and  —  20° ;  it  has 
once  been  up  to  +  13°.  "When  exposed  to  a 
noonday  sun  against  the  ship's  side  it  rises 
50°  higher.  The  earth-thermometer — placed 
2  feet  2  inches  beneath  the  surface — which  gra- 
dually fell  until  the  10th  of  this  month,  has 
now  begun  to  ascend ;  its  minimum  was  +  i° ; 
much  snow  also  lay  over  it,  6  feet  deep  at  this 
season. 

On  the  25th  Dr.  Walker  and  his  party  re- 
turned, not  having  been  able  to  find  the  depot. 
They  found  a  barrel  of  flour  upon  the  beach  a 
few  miles  south  of  Brentford  Bay  ;  it  appeared 
to  have  lain  there  for  years,  just  inside  a  shingle 
projection,  which  kept  off  the  ice  pressure,  so 
that  it  had  not  been  forced  up  high  upon  the 
beach ;  the  ice  which  bore  it  there — probably 
from  Port  Leopold — had  disappeared,  and  the 
cask  was  frozen  into  the  shingle.     The  heading 

R 


242  RETURN  OF  CAPTAIN  YOUNG.      Chap.  XIII. 

has  been  brought  on  board,  but  the  "  scribing  " 
upon  it  is  very  indistinct,  and  unintelligible  to 
us.  The  flour  is  of  the  ordinary  description 
used  in  the  navy,  and  known  as  "  seconds ; " 
most  of  it  was  good,  and  a  plain  pudding  made 
of  it  for  our  mess  could  not  be  distinguished 
from  fresh  flour.  A  specimen  has  been  pre- 
served with  the  view  of  identifying  it  with  the 
Fury  Beach  or  Port  Leopold  stores  of  flour. 
With  the  exception  of  a  solitary  bear,  the 
party  saw  no  living  creatures.  The  shore 
along  which  they  travelled  was  a  very  low 
shingly  limestone. 

Last  evening  I  was  delighted  to  see  Young 
and  his  two  dog-sledges  heave  in  sight ;  he 
brought  about  8  cwt.  of  sugar  from  Fury  Beach, 
but  not  without  much  difficulty,  owing  to  the 
roughness  of  the  pack  in  Creswell  Bay,  and 
also  to  the  breaking  down  of  one  of  his  sledges  ; 
to  avoid  this  pack  he  found  it  necessary  to 
travel  nearly  all  round  Creswell  Bay.  Cape 
Garry  he  describes  as  a  gradually-curved  extent 
of  flat  land,  and  not  the  decided  cape  it  appears 
to  be  upon  the  chart ;  two  reindeer  were  seen 
near  it,  and  during  the  journey  four  bears ;  no 
other  animals  were  met  with.  His  labours  had 
been  very  severe ;  one  sledge  broke  down  and 
all  the  sugar  had  to  be  piled  upon  the  other  : 


Mar.  1859.  SNOW-BLINDNESS.  243 

the  consequence  was  that  the  sledge  was  so 
heavily  loaded  that  it  would  only  run  freely 
after  the  dogs  on  smooth  ice  ;  and  directly  any 
hummocks  were  encountered,  the  dogs,  with 
their  usual  instinct,  not  to  drag  a  sledge  unless 
it  does  run  freely,  would  lie  down,  and  oblige 
Captain  Young  and  his  two  men  to  unload  and 
carry  the  packages,  over  the  obstacle,  upon 
their  own  backs.  After  this,  snow-blindness 
came  on ;  Young  and  one  of  his  men  became 
blind  as  kittens ;  and  the  third  man  had  to 
load,  lead,  and  unload  them,  when  these  port- 
ages occurred.  Young's  Esquimaux  dog-driver, 
Samuel,  was  quite  blind  when  the  party  reached 
the  ship.  Two  dogs,  not  choosing  to  allow 
themselves  to  be  caught  and  put  in  harness,  had 
been  left  behind  at  the  last  encampment. 

There  still  remains  at  Fury  Beach  an  im- 
mense stack  of  preserved  vegetables  and  soups  ; 
the  party  supped  off  them  and  found  them  good. 
Young  brought  me  back  two  specimen  tins  of 
"  carrots  plain  "  and  "  carrots  and  gravy."  All 
small  casks  and  packages  were  covered  with 
snow;  of  the  large  ones  which  appeared  through 
it,  he  saw  thirty-four  casks  of  flour,  five  of  split 
peas,  five  of  tobacco,  and  four  of  sugar.  Only 
a  very  few  tons  of  coals  remained.  There 
were  two  boats,  a  short  four-oared  gig  and  a 

R  2 


244  DEFICIENCY  OF  STORES.  Chap.  XIII. 

large  cutter ;  the  former  required  nothing  but 
caulking  to  make  her  serviceable,  but  the  latter 
had  a  large  portion  of  one  bow  and  side  cut  out, 
as  if  for  making,  or  repairing  flat  sledges.  No 
record  was  found. 

We  have  now  enough  sugar  to  last  us  for 
seven  or  eight  months,  but  by  the  survey  of 
provisions  which  has  just  been  completed,  we 
find  a  deficiency  of  many  other  articles,  includ- 
ing three  casks  of  salt  beef.  Fortunately  this 
is  of  no  consequence,  as  we  have  abundance  of 
both  salt  and  preserved  meat,  but  it  shows  the 
alarming  extent  to  which  a  negligent  steward 
may  mislead  one.  This  unfortunate  man  has 
now  got  scurvy  ;  want  of  exercise  and  fresh  air 
is  the  apparent  cause,  combined  with  irregular 
living ;  the  spirits  have  hitherto  been  in  his' 
charge. 

The  bustle  of  preparation  for  the  extended 
searching  journeys  has  been  exciting.  Hobson's 
party  and  my  own  are  now  all  prepared,  and 
Young  having  returned,  we  purpose  setting  out 
on  the  2nd  April — God  willing.  Young's  new 
sledge  will  be  ready,  and  he  will  also  start  a  few 
days  after  us.  All  our  winter  defences  of  snow, 
our  porches,  our  deck-layer,  and  our  external 
embankment,  have  been  removed.  Dr.  Walker, 
of  necessity,  remains  in  charge  of  the  ship,  with 


Mar.  1859.     PREPARATION  OF  SLEDGE-PARTIES.  245 

two  stewards,  a  cook,  a  carpenter,  and  a  stoker. 
My  party,  as  well  as  Hobson's,  will  be  provi- 
sioned, including  the  depots,  for  an  absence  of 
about  eighty-four  days ;  but  not  being  able  to 
afford  auxiliary  or  supporting  sledge  parties, 
much  time  will  be  occupied  in  transporting  our 
depots  further  out,  in  order  that  we  may  start 
with  as  much  as  we  can  possibly  carry,  from 
the  Magnetic  Pole,  besides  leaving  there  a  depot 
for  our  return. 

The   declinometer  was  taken  on  board  two 
days  ago  ;  hourly  observations  have  been  made 
with  it  for  more  than  five  months  :  we  can  no 
longer  spare  any  one  for  this  interesting  duty. 
***** 

1Uh  June. — One  thing  is  certain,  the  wild  sort 
of  tent-life  we  lead  in  Arctic  exploration  quite 
unfits  one  for  such  tame  work  as  writing  up  a 
journal ;  my  present  attempt  will  illustrate  the 
fact, — yet  with  such  ample  materials  what  a 
deeply  interesting  volume  might  be  written ! 
Since  I  last  opened  this  familiar  old  diary- — the 
repository  alike  of  dry  facts  and  the  most  trivial 
notes — winter  has  passed  away,  summer  is  far 
advanced,  and  the  glorious  sun  is  again  return- 
ing southward.  We  too  have  endeavoured  to 
move  on  with  the  times  and  seasons. 

As  for  myself — I  have  visited  Montreal  Island, 


246  THE  START.  Chap.  XIII. 

completed  the  exploration  and  circuit  of  King 
William's  Island,  passing  on  foot  through  the 
only  feasible  North-West  Passage ;  but  all  this 
is  as  nothing  to  the  interest  attached  to  the 
Franklin  records  picked  up  by  Hobson,  and 
now  safe  in  my  possession !  We  now  know 
the  fate  of  the  '  Erebus  '  and  '  Terror.'  The 
sole  object  of  our  voyage  has  at  length  been 
completed,  and  we  anxiously  await  the  time 
when  escape  from  these  bleak  regions  will  be- 
come practicable. 

***** 

The  morning  of  April  2nd  was  inauspicious, 
but  as  the  day  advanced  the  weather  improved, 
so  that  Hobson  and  I  were  able  to  set  out  upon 
our  journeys ;  we  each  had  a  sledge  drawn 
by  four  men,  besides  a  dog-sledge,  and  dog- 
driver.  Mr.  Petersen  having  volunteered  his 
services  to  drive  my  dogs, — an  offer  too  valu- 
able to  be  declined, — managed  my  dog-sledge 
throughout.  Our  five  starveling  puppies  were 
harnessed,  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives,  to  a 
small  sledge  which  I  drove  myself,  intending 
to  sell  them  to  the  Esquimaux,  if  I  could 
get  them  to  drag  their  own  supply  of  pro- 
visions so  far.  The  procession  looked  imposing 
■ — it  certainly  was  deeply  interesting ;  there 
were  five  sledges,   twelve  men,  and  seventeen 


AraiL,  1S59.   EQUIPMENT  OF  SLEDGE-PARTIES.  247 

dogs,  the  latter  of  all  sizes  and  shapes.  The 
ship  hoisted  the  Eoyal  Harwich  Yacht  flag, 
and  our  sledges  displayed  their  gay  silk  ban- 
ners ;  mine  was  a  very  beautiful  one,  given 
me  by  Lady  Franklin ;  it  bears  her  name  in 
white  letters  upon  a  red  ground,  and  is  margined 
with  white  embroidery ;  it  was  worked  by  the 
sisters  of  Captain  Collinson. 

The  equipment  of  my  sledge-party  and  the 
weights  were  as  follows  :  those  of  Hobson  and 
Young  were  almost  precisely  similar. 

lbs.  weight. 

Two  sledges  and  fittings  complete 110 

Tent,  waterproof  blanket,  floorcloth,  two  sleeping- 
robes,  and  six  blanket  sleeping-bags     90 

Cooking-utensils,  shovel,  saw,  snow-knife,  and  sundry 

small  articles 40 

Sledge-gun  and  ammunition      20 

Magnetic  and  astronomical  instruments 60 

Six  knapsacks,  containing  spare  clothing 60 

Various  tins  and  bags,  in  which  provision  and  fuel 

were  stored      . .      . .  50 

Articles  for  barter       40 

Provisions 930 

Total      1400 

The  load  for  each  man  to  drag  was  fixed  at 
200  lbs.,  and  for  each  dog  100  lbs.  Our  provi- 
sions consisted  mainly  of  pemmican,  biscuit,  and 
tea,  with  a  small  addition  of  boiled  pork,  rum, 
and  some  tobacco. 

The  men  being  untrained  to  the  work,  and 
sledges  heavily  laden,  our  march  was  fatiguing 


248  SLOW  PROGRESS.  Chap.  XIII. 

and  slow.  We  encamped  that  night  upon  the 
long  lake.  On  the  second  day  we  reached  the 
western  sea,  and  "upon  the  third,  aided  by  our 
sledge  sails,  we  advanced  some  miles  beyond 
Arcedeckne  Island. 

The  various  depots  carried  out  with  so  much 
difficulty  and  danger  in  the  autumn,  were  now 
gathered  up  as  we  advanced,  until  at  length  we 
were  so  loaded  as  to  be  compelled  to  proceed  with 
one-half  at  a  time,  going  three  times  over  the 
same  ground.  For  six  days  this  tedious  mode  of 
progression  was  persevered  in,  by  which  time 
(15  th  April)  we  reached  the  low  limestone  shore 
in  latitude  71°  7'  N.,  and  which  continues  thence 
in  almost  a  straight  line  southward  for  60  or  70 
miles.  We  now  commenced  laying  down  pro- 
visions for  our  consumption  upon  the  return 
journey ;  and  the  snow  being  unusually  level, 
we  were  able  to  advance  with  the  whole  of  our 
remaining  provisions,  amounting  to  nearly  sixty 
days'  allowance. 

Hitherto  the  temperature  continued  low,  often 
nearly  30°  below  zero,  and  at  times  with  cutting 
north  winds,  bright  sun,  and  intensely  strong 
snow  glare.  Although  we  wore  coloured  spec- 
tacles, yet  almost  all  suffered  great  incon- 
venience and  considerable  pain  from  inflamed 
eyes.     Our  faces  were  blistered,  lips  and  hands 


April,  1859.       MEET  OLD  ACQUAINTANCE. 


249 


cracked, — never  were  men  more  disfigured  by 
the  combined  effects  of  bright  sun  and  bitterly 
cold  winds;  fortunately  no  serious  frost-bites 
occurred,  but  frost-bitten  faces  and  fingers  were 
universal. 

On  2£)th  April,  in  latitude  70J°  N.,  we  met 
two  families  of  natives,  comprising  twelve  in- 
dividuals ;  their  snow  huts  were  upon  the  ice 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  off  shore,  and  their 
occupation  was  seal-hunting.  They  were  the 
same  people  with  whom  I  had  communicated  at 
Cape  Yictoria  in  February. 

Old  Oo-na-lee  laid  his  hands  on  Petersen's 
shoulders  to  measure  their  width,  and  said,  "  He 
is  fatter  now  :"  true  enough,  the  February  tem- 
perature and  sharp  marching  had  caused  us 
both  at  that  time  to  shrink  considerably. 


Their  snow  huts  were  built  in  the  above  form, 
the  common  entrance  and  both  passages  being 
just  sufficiently  high  to  get  in  without  having 


250  SNOW  HUTS  OF  NATIVES.         Chap.  XIII. 

to  crawl  upon  our  hands  and  knees.  A  slab  of 
ice  in  the  roof  admitted  sufficient  light.  A  snow 
bank  or  bench  two  feet  high,  and  occupying  half 
the  area  of  each  hut,  was  covered  with  reindeer 
skins,  and  formed  the  family  place  of  repose. 
An  angular  snow  bench  served  as  the  kitchen 
table,  and  immediately  beside  it  sat  the  lady  of 
the  establishment  attending  the  stone  lamp 
which  stood  thereon,  and  the  stone  cooking 
vessel  suspended  over  it.  The  lamp  was  a 
shallow  open  vessel,  the  fuel  seal  oil,  and  the 
wick  dried  moss.  Her  "  tinder  box "  was  a 
little  seal-skin  bag  of  soft  dry  moss,  and  with  a 
lump  of  iron  pyrites  and  a  broken  file  she  struck 
fire  upon  it.  I  purchased  the  file  because  it  was 
marked  with  the  Government  broad  arrow. 

We  saw  two  large  snow  shovels  made  of 
mahogany  board,  some  long  spear  handles,  a 
bow  of  English  wood,  two  preserved  meat  tins, 
and  a  deal  case  which  might  have  once  contained 
a  large  telescope  or  a  barometer  ;  it  measured 
3  feet  1  inch  in  length  by  9  inches  wide  and 
3 1  inches  deep  ;  there  was  no  lid,  but  part  of 
the  brass  hinges  remained. 

I  also  purchased  a  knife  which  had  some  in- 
distinct markings  on  it  such  as  ship's  cutlasses 
or  swords  usually  have ;  the  man  told  us  it  had 
been  picked  up  on  the  shore  near  where  a  ship 


April,  1859.    INTELLIGENCE  OF  SECOND  SHIP.  251 

lay  stranded ;  that  it  was  then  about  the  length 
of  his  arm,  but  his  countryman  who  picked  it  up 
broke  it  into  lengths  to  make  knives. 

After  much  anxious  inquiry  we  learned  that 
two  ships  had  been  seen  by  the  natives  of  King 
William's  Island  ;  one  of  them  was  seen  to  sink 
in  deep  water,  and  nothing  was  obtained  from 
her,  a  circumstance  at  which  they  expressed 
much  regret ;  but  the  other  was  forced  on  shore 
by  the  ice,  where  they  suppose  she  still  remains, 
but  is  much  broken.  From  this  ship  they  have 
obtained  most  of  their  wood,  &c.  ;  and  Oot- 
loo-lik  is  the  name  of  the  place  where  she 
grounded. 

Formerly  many  natives  lived  there,  now  very 
few  remain.  All  the  natives  have  obtained 
plenty  of  the  wood. 

The  most  of  this  information  was  given  us  by 
the  young  man  who  sold  the  knife.  Old  Oo-na- 
lee,  who  drew  the  rough  chart  for  me  in  March, 
to  show  where  the  ship  sank,  now  answered  our 
questions  respecting  the  one  forced  on  shore ; 
not  a  syllable  about  her  did  he  mention  on  the 
former  occasion,  although  we  asked  whether 
they  knew  of  only  one  ship  ?  I  think  he  would 
willingly  have  kept  us  in  ignorance  of  a  wreck 
being  upon  their  coasts,  and  that  the  young 
man  unwittingly  made  it  known  to  us. 


252  BARTER  WITH  NATIVES.  Chap.  XIII. 

The  latter  also  told  us  that  the  body  of  a  man 
was  found  on  board  the  ship  ;  that  he  must  have 
been  a  very  large  man,  and  had  long  teeth  : 
this  is  all  he  recollected  having  been  told,  for 
he  was  quite  a  child  at  the  time. 

They  both  told  us  it  was  in  the  fall  of  the 
year — that  is,  August  or  September — when  the 
ships  were  destroyed  ;  that  all  the  white 
people  went  away  to  the  "  large  river,"  taking 
a  boat  or  boats  with  them,  and  that  in  the 
following  winter  their  bones  were  found  there. 

These  two  Esquimaux  families  had  been  up 
as  far  north  as  the  Tasmania  Group  *  in  lati- 
tude 71  i°  JST.,  and  were  returning  to  Neitchillee, 
hunting  seals  by  the  way  ;  those  we  met  at 
Cape  Victoria  had  already  gone  there.  The 
nearest  natives  to  us  at  present,  they  said,  were 
residing  at  the  island  of  Amitoke,  ten  days' 
journey  distant  from  here.  Can  this  Amitoke 
be  Matty  Island  ? 

We  purchased  some  seal's  blubber  and  flesh, 
as  well  as  their  two  only  dogs  ;  but  next  morning 
Oo-na-lee  repented  his  bargain,  or  feigned  to  do 
so,  but  as  he  came  without  the  knife  to  exchange 


*  These  islands  were  so  named  by  me,  at  the  request  of  Lady 
Franklin,  in  grateful  acknowledgment  of  many  proofs  of  affectionate 
sympathy  received  from  the  colony  over  which  her  husband  pre- 
sided for  several  years,  and,  in  particular,  of  the  large  contributions 
raised  there  in'aid  of  her  expeditions  of  search. 


April,  1859.  DEPOT  BOBBED.  253 

back  we  retained  his  dog  ;  he  tried  to  steal  a 
tin  vessel  off  one  of  the  sledges,  and  perhaps  it 
was  for  the  purpose  of  regaining  our  favour  that 
he  made  known  to  us,  just  as  we  were  starting, 
that  his  countrymen  had  followed  my  homeward 
track  in  March,  discovering  my  depot  of  blub- 
ber, articles  for  barter,  and  two  revolvers,  and 
carried  them  all  off  to  Neitchillee, — by  no  means 
pleasant  intelligence  ;  their  dogs  must  have 
enabled  them  to  find  the  blubber  by  scenting 
it,  for  it  was  buried  under  4  feet  of  snow,  and 
strong  winds  obliterated  all  traces  upon  the 
surface. 

I  was  now  glad  we  had  purchased  both  the 
dogs  of  the  men,  as  it  would  probably  prevent 
their  seeking  for  our  depots  to  the  northward  ; 
the  knowledge  of  the  insecurity  of  all  depots 
amongst  these  people  will  keep  us  on  our 
guard  for  the  future.  I  regretted  the  loss  of 
the  pistols,  as  it  left  my  party  with  no  other 
arms  than  two  guns. 

Oo-na-lee  told  us  when  we  first  met  him  that 
one  of  his  countrymen  was  very  sick ;  not  see- 
ing a  sick  man  in  their  huts,  we  forgot  all  about 
it  until  after  starting,  when  Petersen  interpreted 
to  me  Oo-na-lee's  parting  information,  and  told 
me  how  he  described  that  the  breech  of  the 
revolver  turned  round ;   it  then  occurred  to  me 


254  JOURNEY  CONTINUED.  Chap.  XIII. 

that  one  of  the  men  might  have  been  wounded, 
— they  had  discovered  how  to  cock  the  locks, 
and  the  pistols  were  loaded  and  capped. 

Oo-na-lee  was  well  acquainted  with  the  coast- 
line up  to  Bellot  Strait,  and  had  names  for  the 
different  headlands,  although  he  had  never  been 
so  far  north ;  he  made  many  inquiries  about  the 
position  of  our  ship,  her  size,  and  the  number  of 
men.  Had  he  been  able  to  travel  so  far  with 
.his  wife  and  several  young  children,  and  with- 
out sledge  or  dogs,  I  think  he  certainly  would 
have  gone  up  to  Port  Kennedy  ;  we  did  not 
give  him  any  encouragement  to  do  so.  His 
wife  was  one  of  the  most  importunate  of  the 
many  women  we  saw  at  Cape  Yictoria  in  March. 
She  was  the  woman  who  plucked  out  an  infant 
by  its  arm  from  inside  her  dress,  and  exposed 
it  regardless  of  —  30°  and  a  fresh  wind,  as  I 
have  previously  told. 

The  information  respecting  both  the  missing 
ships  was  most  important,  and  it  remained  for 
us  to  discover,  if  possible,  the  stranded  ship. 

Continuing  our  journey,  we  crossed  a  wide 
bay  upon  level  ice,  and  the  most  perfectly 
smooth  hard  snow  I  ever  saw ;  there  must  have 
been  much  open  water  here  late  last  autumn. 
Seven  or  eight  snow  huts,  recently  abandoned, 
were  found  near  the  magnetic  pole.     During 


Apeil,  1859.    PART  COMPANY  FROM  HOBSON.  255 

the  25th,  26th,  and  27th  we  were  confined  to 
our  tents  by  a  very  heavy  south-east  gale,  with 
severe  cold.  Early  on  the  28th  we  reached 
Cape  Victoria  ;  here  Hobson  and  I  separated. 
He  marched  direct  for  Cape  Felix,  King 
William's,  Land,  whilst  I  kept  a  more  southerly 
course.  Not  daring  to  leave  depots  upon  this 
coast,  we  carried  on  our  whole  supply,  intend- 
ing to  deposit  a  small  portion  upon  the  Clarence 
Islands. 

Hobson  was  unwell  when  we  parted,  com- 
plaining of  stiffness  and  pain  in  his  legs  ;  neither 
of  us  then  suspected  the  cause.  I  gave  him 
directions  to  search  the  west  coast  of  King 
William's  Island  for  the  stranded  ship  and 
for  records,  and  to  act  upon  such  information 
as  he  might  obtain  in  this  way,  or  from  the 
natives  ;  but  should  that  shore  prove  destitute 
of  traces,  to  carry  out  if  possible  our  original 
plan  for  the  completion  of  discovery  and  search 
upon  Victoria  Land,  comprising  the  blank  space 
between  the  extremes  visited  by  Captain  Collin- 
son  and  Mr,  Wynniatt. 

I  soon  found  that  my  party  had  to  labour 
across  a  rough  pack ;  nor  was  it  until  the  third 
day  that  we  completed  the  traverse  of  the  strait, 
and  encamped  near  to  the  entrance  of  Port 
Parry,    in    King  William's  Island.     Although 


256  WELLINGTON  STKAIT.  Chap.  XIII. 

the  weather  was  clear,  and  that  by  our  reckon- 
ing we  passed  directly  over  the  assigned  posi- 
tion of  the  two  southern  of  the  Clarence  Islands, 
yet  we  saw  nothing  of  them. 

A  day  was  devoted  to  securing  a  depot  in  a 
huge  mass  of  grounded  ice,  and  in  repairing  and 
drying  equipment,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly, 
in  getting  rid  of  the  ice  which  encumbered 
our  sleeping  bags  and  gear  :  this  we  effected  by 
beating  them  well  and  exposing  them  to  the 
direct  rays  of  the  sun.  Magnetic  and  other 
observations  gave  me  ample  employment,  the 
only  immediate  result  of  which  was  my  being 
almost  snow-blind  for  the  two  following  days. 

On  May  2nd  we  set  off  again  briskly  ;  our 
load  being  diminished  to  thirty  days'  provisions, 
and  the  sledge  sail  set,  we  soon  reached  the 
land,  and  travelled  along  it  for  Cape  Sabine ;  it 
was  very  thick  weather,  and  we  were  unable  to 
see  any  distance  in  consequence  of  the  mist  and 
snowdrift.  The  following  day  was  no  better, 
and  the  shore,  which  we  dared  not  leave  to 
cross  the  bays,  was  extremely  low. 

We  soon  discovered  that  we  had  strayed  in- 
land ;  but,  guided  by  the  wind,  continued  our 
course.  Upon  May  4th  we  descended  into 
Wellington  Strait,  and  the  weather  being 
tolerably  clear,  crossed  over  to  the  south-west 


May,  1859.  NATIVE  SLEDGES.  257 

extreme  of  Matty  Island,  in  the  hope  of  meeting 
with  natives,  no  traces  of  them  having  been 
met  with  since  leaving  Cape  Victoria.  Off  this 
south-west  point  we  found  a  deserted  village  of 
nearly  twenty  snow  huts,  besides  several  others, 
within  a  few  miles  upon  either  side  of  it ;  in  all 
of  them  I  found  shavings  or  chips  of  different 
kinds  of  wood  from  the  lost  expedition ;  they 
appeared  to  have  been  abandoned  only  within 
a  fortnight  or  three  weeks.  Abundance  of 
blubber  was  gathered  up  to  increase  our  stock 
of  fuel,  and,  had  we  encamped  here,  the  dogs 
would  have  feasted  sumptuously  off  the  scraps 
and  bones  of  seals  strewed  about. 

The  runners  (or  sides)  of  some  old  sledges  left 
here  were  very  ingeniously  formed  out  of  rolls 
of  sealskin,  about  3i  feet  long,  and  flattened  so 
as  to  be  2  or  3  inches  wide  and  5  inches  high ; 
the  sealskins  appeared  to  have  been  well  soaked 
and  then  rolled  up,  flattened  into  the  required 


form  and  allowed  to  freeze.  The  underneath 
part  was  coated  with  a  mixture  of  moss  and  ice 
laid  smoothly  on  by  hand  before  being  allowed 


258  KING  WILLIAM  LAND.  Chap.  XIII. 

to  freeze,  the  moss,  I  suppose,  answering  the 
purpose  of  hair  in  mortar,  to  make  the  com- 
pound adhere  more  firmly. 

From  this  spot  the  shore-line  of  Matty  Island 
turned  sharply  to  the  N.N.E. ;  there  were  some 
considerable  islands  to  the  east,  but  thinking 
the  most  southerly  of  this  group,  named 
"  Owut-ta  "  by  the  Esquimaux,  the  most  likely 
place  to  find  the  natives,  I  pushed  on  in  that 
direction  until  we  encamped.  Thick  fog  en* 
veloped  us  for  the  next  two  days ;  we  could  not 
find  the  island,  but  found  a  very  small  islet  near 
it,  off  which  was  another  snow- village  very 
recently  abandoned,  the  sledge  tracks  plainly 
showing  that  the  inhabitants  had  gone  to  the 
E.N.E.,  which  is  straight  for  Neitchillee.  It 
was  now  evident  that  these  places  of  winter 
resort  were  deserted,  and  that  here  at  least  we 
should  not  find  any  natives  ;  I  was  the  more 
sorry  at  having  missed  them,  as,  from  the  quan- 
tity of  wood  chips  about  the  huts,  they  probably 
had  visited  the  stranded  ship  alluded  to  by  the 
last  Equimaux  we  had  met,  and  the  route  to 
which  lies  up  an  inlet  visible  from  here,  and 
then  overland  three  or  four  days'  journey  to 
the  westward,  until  the  opposite  coast  of  King 
William's  Land  is  reached. 

The  largest  huts  measured  12  feet  in  diameter, 


May,  1859.  NATIVE  HUTS.  259 

by  6  or  7  feet  high  ;  the  greater  part  were  con- 
structed in  pairs,  having  a  passage  20  or  25  feet 
long,  serving  as  the  common  entrance ;  where 
the  passage  divides  into  two  branches,  there 
was  a  small  hut,  which  served  as  a  sort  of  ante- 
chamber for  the  reception  of  such  articles  as 
were  intended  to  remain  frozen. 


s  2 


260  MEET  ESQUIMAUX.  Chap.  XIV. 


CHAPTEK    X1Y. 

Meet  Esquimaux — "News  of  Franklin's  people  —  Frighten  a  solitary 
party  —  Keach  the  Great  Fish  Eiver  —  On  Montreal  Island  — 
Total  absence  of  all  relics —  Examine  Ogle  Peninsula  —  Dis- 
cover a  skeleton  —  Vagueness  of  Esquimaux  information —  Cape 
Herschel  —  Cairn. 

*7th  May. — To  avoid  snow-blindness,  we  com- 
menced night-marching.  Crossing  over  from 
Matty  Island  towards  the  King  William  Island 
shore,  we  continued  our  march  southward  until 
midnight,  when  we  had  the  good  fortune  to 
arrive  at  an  inhabited  snow  village.  We  found 
here  ten  or  twelve  huts  and  thirty  or  forty 
natives  of  King  William's  Island ;  I  do  not 
think  any  of  them  had  ever  seen  white  people 
alive  before,  but  they  evidently  knew  us  to 
be  friends.  We  halted  at  a  little  distance,  and 
pitched  our  tent,  the  better  to  secure  small 
articles  from  being  stolen  whilst  we  bartered 
with  them. 

I  purchased  from  them  six  pieces  of  silver 
plate,  bearing  the  crests  or  initials  of  Franklin, 
Crozier,  Fairholme,  and  McDonald;  they  also 
sold  us  bows  and  arrows  of  English  woods,  uni- 


May,  1859.  PUECHASE  OF  EELICS.  261 

form  and  other  buttons,  and  offered  us  a  heavy 
sledge  made  of  two  short  stout  pieces  of  curved 
wood,  which  no  mere  boat  could  have  furnished 
them  with,  but  this  of  course  we  could  not  take 
away ;  the  silver  spoons  and  forks  were  readily 
sold  for  four  needles  each. 

They  were  most  obliging  and  peaceably  dis- 
posed, but  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to 
steal,  and  were  importunate  to  barter  every- 
thing they  possessed ;  there  was  not  a  trace  of 
fear,  every  countenance  was  lighted  up  with 
joy  ;  even  the  children  were  not  shy,  nor  back- 
ward either,  in  crowding  about  us,  and  poking 
in  everywhere.  One  man  got  hold  of  our  saw, 
and  tried  to  retain  it,  holding  it  behind  his 
back,  and  presenting  his  knife  in  exchange  ;  we 
might  have  had  some  trouble  in  getting  it  from 
him,  had  not  one  of  my  men  mistaken  his  object 
in  presenting  the  knife  towards  me,  and  run  out 
of  the  tent  with  a  gun  in  his  hand ;  the  saw 
was  instantly  returned,  and  these  poor  people 
seemed  to  think  they  never  could  do  enough 
to  convince  us  of  their  friendliness  ;  they 
repeatedly  tapped  me  gently  on  the  breast, 
repeating  the  words  "  Kammik  toomee  "  (We 
are  friends). 

Having  obtained  all  the  relics  they  possessed, 
I  purchased  some  seal's  flesh,  blubber,  frozen 


262  NEWS  OF  FEANKLIN'S  PEOPLE.    Chap.  XIV. 

venison,  dried  and  frozen  salmon,  and  sold 
some  of  my  puppies.  They  told  ns  it  was  five 
days'  journey  to  the  wreck, — one  day  up  the 
inlet  still  in  sight,  and  four  days  overland  ;  this 
would  carry  them  to  the  western  coast  of  King 
William  Land  ;  they  added  that  but  little  now 
remained  of  the  wreck  which  was  accessible, 
their  countrymen  having  carried  almost  every- 
thing away.  In  answer  to  an  inquiry,  they  said 
she  was  without  masts ;  the  question  gave  rise 
to  some  laughter  amongst  them,  and  they  spoke 
to  each  other  about  fire,  from  which  Petersen 
thought  they  had  burnt  the  masts  through  close 
to  the  deck  in  order  to  get  them  down. 

There  had  been  many  books  they  said,  but  all 
have  long  ago  been  destroyed  by  the  weather ; 
the  ship  was  forced  on  shore  in  the  fall  of  the 
year  by  the  ice.  She  had  not  been  visited 
during  this  past  winter,  and  an  old  woman  and 
a  boy  were  shown  to  us  who  were  the  last  to 
visit  the  wreck ;  they  said  they  had  been  at  it 
during  the  winter  of  1857-8. 

Petersen  questioned  the  woman  closely,  and 
she  seemed  anxious  to  give  all  the  information 
in  her  power.  She  said  many  of  the  white 
men  dropped  by  the  way  as  they  went  to  the 
Great  Eiver ;  that  some  were  buried  and  some 
were  not ;  they  did  not  themselves  witness  this, 


May,  1859.  JOURNEY  CONTINUED.  263 

but  discovered  their  bodies  during  the  winter 
following. 

We  could  not  arrive  at  any  approximation  to 
the  numbers  of  the  white  men  nor  of  the  years 
elapsed  since  they  were  lost. 

This  w^is  all  the  information  we  could  obtain, 
and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  so  much  could 
be  gleaned,  the  dialect  being  strange  to  Petersen, 
and  the  natives  far  more  inclined  to  ask  ques- 
tions than  to  answer  them.  They  assured  us 
we  should  find  natives  upon  the  south  shore  of 
King  William's  Island  only  three  days'  journey 
from  here,  and  also  at  Montreal  Island ;  more- 
over they  said  we  might  find  some  at  the  wreck. 
For  these  reasons  I  did  not  prolong  my  stay 
with  them  beyond  a  couple  of  hours.  They 
seemed  to  have  but  little  intercourse  with  other 
communities,  not  having  heard  of  our  visit  to 
the  Boothians  two  months  before :  one  man 
even  asked  Petersen  if  he  had  seen  his  brother, 
who  lived  in  Boothia,  not  having  heard  of  him 
since  last  summer. 

It  was  quite  a  relief  to  get  away  from  these 
good-humoured,  noisy  thieves,  and  rather  diffi- 
cult too,  as  some  of  them  accompanied  us  for 
miles.  They  had  abundance  of  food,  were  well 
clothed,  and  are  a  finer  race  than  those  who 
inhabit  North  Greenland,  or  Pond's  Inlet :  the 


264  FEIGHTEN  A  SOLITARY  PARTY.        Chap.  XIV. 

men  had  their  hair  cropped  short,  with  the 
exception  of  one  long,  straggling  lock  hang- 
ing down  on  each  side  of  the  face ;  like  the 
Boothians,  the  women  had  lines  tattooed  upon 
their  cheeks  and  chins. 

We  now  proceeded  round  a  bay  which  I 
named  Latrobe  in  honour  of  the  late  Governor 
of  Victoria,  and  of  his  brother  the  head  of  the 
Moravian  Church  in  London,  both  esteemed 
friends  of  Franklin. 

Finding  the  "  Mathison  Island  "  of  Eae  to  be 
a  flat- topped  hill,  we  crossed  over  low  land  to 
the  west  of  it,  and  upon  the  morning  of  the 
10th  May  reached  a  single  snow  hut  off  Point 
Booth.  I  was  quite  astonished  at  the  number 
of  poles  and  various  articles  of  wood  lying 
about  it,  also  at  the  huge  pile  of  walrus'  and 
reindeers  flesh,  seal's  blubber,  and  skins  of 
various  sorts.  We  had  abundance  of  leisure  to 
examine  these  exterior  articles  before  the  in- 
mates would  venture  out ;  they  were  evidently 
much  alarmed  by  our  sudden  appearance. 

A  remarkably  fine  old  dog  was  tied  at  the 
entrance- — the  line  being  made  fast  within  the 
long  passage — and  although  he  wagged  his  tail, 
and  received  us  as  old  acquaintances,  we  did  not 
like  to  attempt  an  entrance.  At  length  an  old 
man  and  an  old  woman  appeared ;  they  trembled 


May,  1859.       ARTICLES  IN  THEIR  POSSESSION.  265 

with  fear,  and  could  not,  or  would  not,  say 
anything  except  "  Kammik  toomee :"  we  tried 
every  means  of  allaying  their  fears,  but  their 
wits  seemed  paralyzed,  and  we  could  get  no 
information.  We  asked  where  they  got  the 
wood  ?  They  purchased  it  from  their  countrymen. 
Did  they  know  the  Great  River  ?  Yes,  but  it 
was  a  long  way  off.  Were  there  natives  there 
now  ?  Yes.  They  even  denied  all  knowledge 
of  white  people  having  died  upon  their  shores. 
A  fine  young  man  came  out  of  the  hut,  but  we 
could  learn  nothing  of  him ;  they  said  they 
had  nothing  to  barter,  except  what  we  saw, 
although  we  tempted  them  by  displaying  our 
store  of  knives  and  needles. 

The  wind  was  strong  and  fair,  and  the  morn- 
ing intensely  cold,  and  as  I  could  not  hope  to 
overcome  the  fears  of  these  poor  people  without 
encamping,  and  staying  perhaps  a  day  with 
them,  I  determined  to  push  on,  and  presented 
the  old  lady  with  a  needle  as  a  parting  gift. 

The  principal  articles  which  caught  my  atten- 
tion here  were  eight  or  ten  fir  poles,  varying  in 
length  from  5  to  10  feet,  and  up  to  2i  inches 
in  diameter  (these  were  converted  into  spear 
handles  and  tent  poles),  a  kayak  paddle  con- 
structed out  of  the  blades  of  two  ash  oars,  and 
two  large  snow  shovels  4  feet  long,  made  of 


266  GREAT  FISH  RIVER.  Chap.  XIV. 

thin  plank,  painted  white  or  pale  yellow ;  these 
might  have  been  the  bottom  boards  of  a  boat. 
There  were  many  smaller  articles  of  wood. 

Half  a  mile  further  on  we  found  seven  or 
eight  deserted  snow  huts.  Bad  weather  had 
now  fairly  set  in,  accompanied  by  a  most  un- 
seasonable degree  of  cold.  On  the  morning  of 
the  12th  May  we  crossed  Point  Ogle,  and  en- 
camped upon  the  ice  in  the  Great  Fish  Eiver 
the  same  evening;  the  cold,  and  the  darkness 
of  our  more  southern  latitude,  having  obliged 
us  to  return  to  day-travelling.  All  the  13th  we 
were  imprisoned  in  our  tent  by  a  most  furious 
gale,  nor  was  it  until  late  on  the  morning  of  the 
14th  that  we  could  proceed ;  that  evening  we 
encamped  2  miles  from  some  small  islands  which 
lie  off  the  north  end  of  Montreal  Island. 

On  the  morning  of  the  15th  we  made  only  a 
short  march  of  6  miles,  as  one  of  the  men  suf- 
fered severely  from  snow-blindness,  and  I  was 
anxious  to  recommence  night-travelling;  en- 
camped in  a  little  bay  upon  the  N.E.  side  of 
Montreal  Island.  The  same  evening  we  again 
set  out,  although  it  was  blowing  very  strongly, 
and  "  snowing  for  a  wager,"  as  the  men  ex- 
pressed it,  but  it  was  only  necessary  for  us  to 
keep  close  along  the  shore  of  the  island :  we 
discovered,    however,   a   narrow    and    crooked 


Mat,  1859.  MOOTKEAL  ISLAND.  267 

channel  which  led  us  through  to  the  west  side 
of  the  island,  and,  one  of  the  men  appearing 
seriously  ill,  we  encamped  about  midnight. 

Whilst  encamped  this  day,  explorations  were 
made  about  the  N.E,  quarter  of  the  island; 
islets  an£  rocks  were  seen  to  abound  in  all  direc- 
tions ;  eventually  it  proved  to  be  a  separate 
island  upon  which  we  had  encamped.  The 
only  traces  or  relics  of  Europeans  found  were 
the  following  articles,  discovered  by  Petersen, 
beside  a  native  mark  (one  large  stone  set  upright 
on  the  top  of  another),  at  the  east  side  of  the 
main — or  Montreal — island  : — A  piece  of  a  pre- 
served meat  tin,  two  pieces  of  iron  hoop,  some 
scraps  of  copper,  and  an  iron-hoop  bolt.  These 
probably  are  part  of  the  plunder  obtained  from  the 
boat,  and  were  left  here  until  a  more  favourable 
opportunity  should  offer,  or  perhaps  necessity 
should  compel  the  depositor  to  return  for  them. 

All  the  16th  we  were  unable  to  move,  not 
only  because  Hampton  was  ill,  but  the  weather 
was  extremely  bad,  and  snow  thickly  falling  with 
temperature  at  zero  ;  certainly  strange  weather 
for  the  middle  of  May  !  We  have  not  had  a 
single  clear  day  since  the  1st  of  the  month. 

On  the  17th  the  weather,  though  dull,  was 
clear,  so  Mr.  Petersen,  Thompson,  and  I  set  off 
with  the  dog-sledge  to  complete  the  examina- 


268  SEARCH  FOR  RELICS.  Chap.  XIV. 

tion  of  Montreal  Island,  leaving  the  other  three 
men  with  the  tent :  we  also  hoped  to  find  natives, 
but  had  not  seen  any  recent  traces  of  them  since 
passing  Point  Booth.  Petersen  drove  the  dog- 
sledge  close  along  shore  round  the  island  to  the 
south,  and  as  far  up  the  east  side  as  to  meet  our 
previously  explored  portion  of  it,  whilst  Thomp- 
son and  I  walked  along  on  the  land,  the  one 
close  down  to  the  beach,  and  the  other  higher 
up,  examining  the  more  conspicuous  parts :  in 
this  order  we  traversed  the  remaining  portion  of 
the  island. 

Although  the  snow  served  to  conceal  from  us 
any  traces  which  might  exist  in  hollows  or  shel- 
tered situations,  yet  it  rendered  all  objects  in- 
tended to  serve  as  marks  proportionably  con- 
spicuous ;  and  we  may  remember  that  it  was  in 
its  winter  garb  that  the  retreating  crews  saw 
Montreal  Island,  precisely  as  we  ourselves  saw 
it.  The  island  was  almost  covered  with  native 
marks,  usually  of  one  stone  standing  upright 
upon  another,  sometimes  consisting  of  three 
stones,  but  very  rarely  of  a  greater  number. 
No  trace  of  a  cairn  could  be  founds 
In  examining,  with  pickaxe  and  shovel,  a 
collection  of  stones  which  appeared  to  be  ar- 
ranged artificially,  we  found  a  quantity  of  seal's 
blubber   buried  beneath ;    this   old    Esquimaux 


May,  1859.        TOTAL  ABSENCE  OF  RELICS.  269 

cache  was  near  the  S.E.  point  of  the  island.  The 
interior  of  the  island  and  the  principal  islets 
adjacent  were  also  examined  without  success, 
nor  was  there  the  slightest  evidence  of  natives 
having  been  here  during  the  winter  :  it  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  that  we  returned  in  the  evening 
to  our  tent  somewhat  dispirited.  The  total 
absence  of  natives  was  a  bitter  disappointment ; 
circles  of  stones,  indicating  the  sites  of  their 
tenting  places  in  summer,  were  common  enough. 

Montreal  Island  is  of  primary  rock,  chiefly 
grey  gneiss,  traversed  with  whitish  vertical 
bands  in  a  N.  and  S.  direction  (by  them  I  often 
directed  my  route  when  crossing  the  island). 
It  is  of  considerable  elevation,  and  extremely 
rugged.  The  low  beaches  and  grassy  hollows 
were  covered  with  a  foot  or  two  of  hard  snow, 
whilst  all  the  level,  the  elevated,  or  exposed 
parts  were  swept  perfectly  bare  ;  had  a  cairn,  or 
even  a  grave,  existed  (raised  as  it  must  be,  the 
earth  being  frozen  hard  as  rock),  we  must  at 
once  have  seen  it.  If  any  were  constructed  they 
must  have  been  levelled  by  the  natives ;  every 
doubtful  appearance  was  examined  with  the 
pickaxe. 

A  remark  made  by  my  men  struck  me  as 
being  shrewd  ;  they  judged  from  the  washed 
appearance  of  the  rock  upon  the  east  side  of 


270  SHOOTING  GAME.  Chap.  XIV. 

Montreal  Island  that  it  must  often  be  exposed 
to  a  considerable  sea,  such  as  would  effectually 
remove  everything  not  placed  far  above  its 
reach  ;  when  looking  over  the  smooth  and  frozen 
expanse  one  is  apt  to  forget  this. 

Since  our  first  landing  upon  King  William's 
Island  we  have  not  met  with  any  heavy  ice  ;  all 
along  its  eastern  and  southern  shore,  together 
with  the  estuary  of  this  great  river,  is  one  vast 
unbroken  sheet  formed  in  the  early  part  of  last 
winter  where  no  ice  previously  existed ;  this  I 
fancy  (from  the  accounts  of  Back  and  Anderson) 
is  unusual,  and  may  have  caused  the  Esquimaux 
to  vary  their  seal-hunting  localities.  Mr.  Pe- 
tersen suggested  that  they  might  have  retired 
into  the  various  inlets  after  the  seals ;  and 
therefore  I  determined  to  cross  over  into  Bar- 
row's Inlet  as  soon  as  we  had  examined  the 
Point  Ogle  Peninsula. 

Upon  Montreal  Island  I  shot  a  hare  and  a 
brace  of  willow-grouse.  Up  to  this  date  we 
had  shot  during  our  journey  only  one  bear  and 
a  couple  of  ptarmigan.  The  first  recent  traces 
of  reindeer  were  met  with  here. 

On  the  18th  May  crossed  over  to  the  main- 
land near  Point  Duncan,  but,  Hampton  again 
complaining,  I  was  obliged  to  encamp.  When 
away  from  my  party,  and  exploring  along  the 


May,  1859.    RETURN  JOURNEY  COMMENCED.  271 

shore  towards  Elliot  Bay,  I  saw  a  herd  of  eight 
reindeer  and  succeeded  in  shooting  one  of  them. 
In  the  evening  Petersen  shot  another.  Some 
willow-grouse  also  were  seen.  Here  we  found 
much  more  vegetation  than  upon  King  Wil- 
liam's Island,  or  any  other  Arctic  land  I  have 
yet  seen. 

On  the  evening  of  the  19th  we  commenced 
our  return  journey,  but  for  the  three  following 
weeks  our  route  led  us  over  new  ground. 
Hampton  being  unable  to  drag,  I  made  over 
my  puppy  team  to  him,  and  was  thus  left  free 
to  explore  and  fully  examine  every  doubtful 
object  along  our  route.  I  shall  not  easily  forget 
the  trial  my  patience  underwent  during  the  six 
weeks  that  I  drove  that  dog-sledge.  The  leader 
of  my  team,  named  "  Omar  Pasha,"  was  very 
willing,  but  very  lame ;  little  "  Eose  "  was  co- 
quettish, and  fonder  of  being  caressed  than 
whipped,  from  some  cause  or  other  she  ceased 
growing  when  only  a  few  months  old,  she 
was  therefore  far  too  small  for  heavy  work ; 
"  Darky  "  and  "  Missy  "  were  mere  pups ;  and 
last  of  all  came  the  two  wretched  starvelings, 
reared  in  the  winter,  "  Foxey  '■  and  "  Dolly." 
Each  dog  had  its  own  harness,  formed  of  strips 
of  canvas,  and  was  attached  to  the  sledge  by  a 
single  trace  12  feet  long.     None  of  them  had 


272  PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  DOGS.      Chap.  XIV. 

ever  been  yoked  before,  and  the  amount  of  cun- 
ning and  perversity  they   displayed   to   avoid 
both  the  whip  and  the  work,  was  quite  asto- 
nishing.    They  bit  through   their   traces,    and 
hid  away  under  the  sledge,  or  leaped  over  one 
another's  backs,  so  as  to  get  into  the  middle  of 
the  team  out  of  the  way  of  my  whip,  until  the 
traces   became   plaited  up,  and  the  dogs  were 
almost  knotted  together ;  the  consequence  was 
I  had  to  halt  every  few  minutes,  pull  off  my 
mitts,  and,  at  the  risk  of  frozen  fingers,  disen- 
tangle the  lines.     I  persevered,  however,  and, 
without  breaking  any  of  their  bones,  succeeded 
in  getting  a  surprising  amount  of  work  out  of 
them.     Hobson  drove  his  own  dog-sledge  like- 
wise, and  as  long  as  we  were  together  we  helped 
each   other  out   of  difficulties,   and  they   were 
frequently  occurring,  for,  apart  from  those   I 
have  above  mentioned,  directly  a  dog-sledge  is 
stopped  by  a  hummock,  or  sticks  fast  in  deep 
snow,  the  dogs,  instead  of  exerting  themselves, 
lie  down,  looking  perfectly  delighted  at  the  cir- 
cumstance, and  the  driver  has  to  extricate  the 
sledge  with  a  hearty  one,  two,  three  haul !  and 
apply  a  little  gentle  persuasion  to  set  his  canine 
team  in  motion  again. 

Having  searched  the  east  shore  of  this  land 
for  7  or  8  miles  further  north,  we  crossed  over 


May,  1859.        EXAMINE  OGLE  PENINSULA.  273 

into  Barrow's  Inlet,  and  spent  a  day  in  its 
examination,  but  not  a  trace  of  natives  was  met 
with.  » 

Regaining  the  shore  of  Dease  and  Simpson's 
Strait,  some  miles  to  the  west  of  Point  Richard- 
son, we  crossed  over  to  King  William's  Island 
upon  the* morning  of  the  24th,  striking  in  upon 
it  a  short  distance  west  of  the  Peffer  River. 
The  south  coast  was  closely  examined  as  we 
marched  along  towards  Cape  Herschel.  Upon 
a  conspicuous  point,  to  the  westward  of  Point 
Gladman,  a  cairn  nearly  five  feet  high  was  seen, 
which,  although  it  did  not  appear  to  be  a 
recent  construction,  was  taken  down,  stone  by 
stone,  and  carefully  examined,  the  ground  be- 
neath being  broken  up  with  the  pickaxe,  but 
nothing  was  discovered. 

The  ground  about  it  was  much  exposed  to 
the  winds,  and  consequently  devoid  of  snow,  so 
that  no  trace  could  have  escaped  us.  Simpson 
does  not  mention  having  landed  here,  or  any- 
where upon  the  island  except  at  Cape  Herschel, 
yet  it  seemed  to  me  strange  that  natives  should 
construct  such  a  mark  here,  since  a  huge  boulder, 
which  would  equally  serve  their  purpose,  stood 
upon  the  same  elevation,  and  within  a  couple  of 
hundred  yards.     We  had  previously  examined  a 

T 


274  A  SKELETON  DISCOVEKED.        Chap.  XIV. 

similar  but  smaller  cairn,  a  few  miles  to  the 
eastward. 

We  were  now  upon  the  shore  along  which 
the  retreating  crews  must  have  marched.  My 
sledges  of  course  travelled  upon  the  sea-ice 
close  along  the  shore  ;  and,  although  the  depth 
of  snow  which  covered  the  beach  deprived  us 
of  almost  every  hope,  yet  we  kept  a  very  sharp 
look-out  for  traces,  nor  were  we  unsuccessful. 
Shortly  after  midnight  of  the  25th  May,  when 
slowly  walking  along  a  gravel  ridge  near  the 
beach,  which  the  winds  kept  partially  bare  of 
snow,  I  came  upon  a  human  skeleton,  partly 
exposed,  with  here  and  there  a  few  fragments 
of  clothing  appearing  through  the  snow.  The 
skeleton — now  perfectly  bleached — was  lying 
upon  its  face,  the  limbs  and  smaller  bones 
either  dissevered  or  gnawed  away  by  small 
animals. 

A  most  careful  examination  of  the  spot  was 
of  course  made,  the  snow  removed,  and  every 
scrap  of  clothing  gathered  up.  A  pocket-book 
afforded  strong  grounds  for  hope  that  some 
information  might  be  subsequently  obtained 
respecting  the  unfortunate  owner  and  the  cala- 
mitous march  of  the  lost  crews,  but  at  the  time 
it   was   frozen   hard.      The    substance   of  that 


May,  1859.        AETICLES  FOUND  NEAE  IT.  275 

which  we  gleaned  upon  the  spot  may  thus  be 
summed  up  : — 

This  victim  was  a  young  man,  slightly  built, 
and  perhaps  above  the  common  height;  the 
dress  appeared  to  be  that  of  a  steward  or  officer's 

servant,  the  loose  bow-knot  in  which  his  neck- 

» 

handkerchief  was  tied  not  being  used  by  sea- 
men or  officers.  In  every  particular  the  dress 
confirmed  our  conjectures  as  to  his  rank  or 
office  in  the  late  expedition, — the  blue  jacket 
with  slashed  sleeves  and  braided  edging,  and 
the  pilot-cloth  great-coat  with  plain  covered 
buttons.  We  found,  also,  a  clothes-brush  near, 
and  a  horn  pocket-comb.  This  poor  man  seems 
to  have  selected  the  bare  ridge  top,  as  affording 
the  least  tiresome  walking,  and  to  have  fallen 
upon  his  face  in  the  position  in  which  we  found 
him. 

It  was  a  melancholy  truth  that  the  old  woman 
spoke  when  she  said,  "  they  fell  down  and  died 
as  they  walked  along." 

I  do  not  think  the  Esquimaux  had  discovered 
this  skeleton,  or  they  would  have  carried  off  the 
brush  and  comb :  superstition  prevents  them 
from  disturbing  their  own  dead,  but  would  not 
keep  them  from  appropriating  the  property  of 
the  white  man  if  in  any  way  useful  to  them. 
Dr.  Eae   obtained   a   piece   of  flannel,  marked 

T  2 


276  VAGUENESS  OF  INFOKMATION.      Chap.  XIV. 

"  F.  D.  V.,  1845."  from  the  Esquimaux  of  Boothia 
or  Eepulse  Bay  :  it  had  doubtless  been  a  part 
of  poor  Des  Voeux's  garments. 

At  the  time  of  our  interview  with  the  natives 
of  King  William's  Island,  Petersen  was  in- 
clined to  think  that  the  retreat  of  the  crews 
took  place  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  some  of 
the  men  in  boats,  and  others  walking  along 
the  shore  ;  and  as  only  five  bodies  are  said  to 
have  been  found  upon  Montreal  Island  with 
the  boat,  this  fact  favoured  his  opinion,  because 
so  small  a  number  could  not  have  dragged  her 
there  over  the  ice,  although  they  could  very 
easily  have  taken  her  there  by  water.  Subse- 
quently this  opinion  proved  erroneous.  I  men- 
tion it  because  it  shows  how  vague  our  infor- 
mation was — indeed  all  Esquimaux  accoimts 
are  naturally  so — and  how  entirely  we  were 
dependent  upon  our  own  exertions  for  bringing 
to  light  the  mystery  of  their  fate. 

The  information  obtained  by  Dr.  Rae  was 
mainly  derived  second-hand  from  the  Fish 
River  Esquimaux,  and  should  not  be  con- 
founded with  that  received  by  us  from  the 
King  William's  Island  Esquimaux.  These 
people  told  us  they  did  not  find  the  bodies  of 
the  white  men  (that  is,  they  did  not  know  any 
had  died  upon  the  march)  until  the  following 


...    __■_■    _,;^_^_^_. 


May,  1859.  CAPE  HEKSCHEL.  277 

winter.  This  is  probably  true,  as  it  is  only 
in  winter  and  early  spring  tbey  can  travel 
overland  to  the  west  shore,  or  that  they  make  a 
practice  of  wandering  along  the  shore  in  search 
of  seals  and  bears. 

The  remains  of  those  who  died  in  the  Fish 
River  may  very  probably  have  been  discovered 
in  the  summer  shortly  after  their  decease. 

Along  the  south  coast  of  King  William's 
Land,  as  upon  the  mainland,  I  was  sadly  dis- 
appointed in  my  expectation  of  meeting  natives. 
We  found  only  six  or  eight  deserted  snow  huts, 
showing  that  they  had  recently  been  here, 
and  consequently  there  was  the  less  chance  of 
meeting  with  them  on  our  further  progress,  as 
the  season  had  now  arrived  when  they  seek  the 
rivers  and  the  favourite  haunts  and  passes  of 
the  reindeer  in  their  northern  migration. 

Hobson  was  however  upon  the  western  coast, 
and  I  hoped  to  find  a  note  left  for  me  at 
Cape  Herschel  containing  some  piece  of  good 
news.  After  minutely  examining  the  inter- 
vening coast  -  line,  it  was  with  strong  and 
reasonable  hope  I  ascended  the  slope  which 
is  crowned  by  Simpson's  conspicuous  cairn. 
This  summit  of  Cape  Herschel  is  perhaps 
150  feet  high,  and  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
within    the    low    stony   point    which    projects 


278  SIMPSON'S  CAIKN.  .  Chap.  XIV- 

from  it,  and  on  which  there  was  consider- 
able ice  pressure  and  a  few  hummocks  heaped 
up,  the  first  we  had  seen  for  three  weeks. 
Close  round  this  point,  or  by  cutting  across 
it  as  we  did,  the  retreating  parties  must 
have  passed ;  and  the  opportunity  afforded 
by  the  cairn  of  depositing  in  a  known  posi- 
tion— and  that,  too,  where  their  own  dis- 
coveries terminated — some  record  of  their  own 
proceedings,  or,  it  might  be,  a  portion  of  their 
scientific  journals,  would  scarcely  have  been 
disregarded. 

Simpson  makes  no  mention  of  having  left  a 
record  in  this  cairn,  nor  would  Franklin's 
people  have  taken  any  trouble  to  find  it  if 
he  had  left  one ;  but  what  now  remained  of 
this  once  ■*  ponderous  cairn  "  was  only  four  feet 
high ;  the  south  side  had  been  pulled  down  and 
the  central  stones  removed,  as  if  by  persons 
seeking  for  something  deposited  beneath.  After 
removing  the  snow  with  which  it  was  filled, 
and  a  few  loose  stones,  the  men  laid  bare  a 
large  slab  of  limestone  :  with  difficulty  this  was 
removed,  then  a  second,  and  also  a  third  slab, 
when  they  came  to  the  ground.  For  some 
time  we  persevered  with  a  pickaxe  in  breaking 
up  the  frozen  earth,  but  nothing  whatever 
was  found,  nor  any  trace  of  European  visitors 


May,  1859.  SIMPSON'S  CAIRN.  279 

in  its  vicinity.  There  were  many  old  caches 
and  low  stone  walls,  such  as  natives  would 
use  to  lurk  behind  for  the  purpose  of  shooting 
reindeer  ;  and  we  noticed  some  recent  tracks  of 
those  animals  which  had  crossed  direct  hither 
from  the  mainland. 


280  THE  CAIRN  EMPTY.  Chap.  XV. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

The  cairn  found  empty  — Discover  Hobson's  letter  —  Discovery  of 
Crozier's  record  —  The  deserted  boat  —  Articles  discovered  about 
the  boat  —  The  skeletons  and  relics  —  The  boat  belonged  to  the 
'  Erebus ' —  Conjectures. 

As  the  Esquimaux  of  this  land,  as  well  as 
those  of  Boothia  and  Pond's  Inlet,  have  long 
since  given  up  the  practice  of  building  stone 
dwellings — passing  their  winters  in  snow  huts 
and  summers  in  tents — no  other  traces  of  them 
than  those  described  remain ;  so  that  when  or 
in  what  numbers  they  may  have  been  here  one 
cannot  form  any  opinion,  the  same  caches  and 
hiding-places  serving  for  generations. 

I  cannot  divest  myself  of  the  belief  that  some 
record  was  left  here  by  the  retreating  crews, 
and  perhaps  some  most  valuable  documents 
which  their  slow  progress  and  fast  failing 
strength  would  have  assured  them  could  not  be 
carried  much  further.  If  any  such  were  left 
they  have  been  discovered  by  the  natives, 
and  carried  off,  or  thrown  away  as  worthless. 


Mat,  1859.  APPEARANCE  OF  CAIRNS.  281 

Doubtless  the  natives,  when  they  ascertained 
that  famine  and  fatigue  had  caused  many 
of  the  white  men  "  to  fall  down  and  die " 
upon  their  fearful  march,  and  heard,  as  they 
might  have  done,  of  its  fatal  termination  upon 
the  mainland,  lost  no  time  in  following  up 
their  traces,  examining  every  spot  where  they 
halted,  every  mark  they  put  up,  or  stone  dis- 
placed. 

It  is  easy  to  tell  whether  a  cairn  has  been 
put  up  or  touched  within  a  moderate  period 
of  years  ;  if  very  old,  the  outer  stones  have  a 
weathered  appearance,  lichens  will  have  grown 
upon  the  sheltered  portions  and  moss  in  the 
crevices ;  but  if  recently  disturbed,  even  if  a 
single  stone  is  turned  upside  down,  these  ap- 
pearances are  altered.  If  a  cairn  has  been 
recently  built  it  will  be  evident,  because  the 
stones  picked  up  from  the  neighbourhood  would 
be  bleached  on  top  by  the  exposure  of  centuries, 
whilst  underneath  they  would  be  coloured  by 
the  soil  in  which  they  were  imbedded.  To  the 
eye  of  the  native  hunter  these  marks  of  a  recent 
cairn  are  at  once  apparent ;  and  unless  Simpson's 
cairn  (built  in  1839)  had  been  disturbed  by 
Crozier,  I  do  not  think  the  Esquimaux  would 
have  been  at  the  trouble  of  pulling  it  down  to 


282     INTEREST  ATTACHING  TO  THE  CAIRN.   Chap.  XY. 

plunder  the  cache ;  but,  having  commenced  to 
do  so,  would  not  have  left  any  of  it  standing, 
unless  they  found  what  they  sought. 

I  noticed  with  great  care  the  appearance  of 
the  stones,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
cairn  itself  was  of  old  date,  and  had  been  erected 
many  years  ago,  and  that  it  was  reduced  to 
the  state  in  which  we  found  it  by  people  having 
broken  down  one  side  of  it,  the  displaced  stones, 
from  being  turned  over,  looking  far  more  fresh 
than  those  in  that  portion  of  the  cairn  which 
had  been  left  standing.  It  was  with  a  feeling 
of  deep  regret  and  much  disappointment  that 
I  left  this  spot  without  finding  some  certain 
record  of  those  martyrs  to  their  country's  fame. 
Perhaps  in  all  the  wide  world  there  will  be  few 
spots  more  hallowed  in  the  recollection  of  Eng- 
lish seamen  than  this  cairn  on  Cape  Herschel. 

A  few  miles  beyond  Cape  Herschel  the  land 
becomes  very  low ;  many  islets  and  shingle- 
ridges  lie  far  off  the  coast ;  and  as  we  advanced 
we  met  with  hummocks  of  unusually  heavy  ice, 
showing  plainly  that  we  were  now  travelling 
upon  a  far  more  exposed  part  of  the  coast-line. 
We  were  approaching  a  spot  where  a  revela- 
tion of  intense  interest  was  awaiting  me. 

About  12  miles  from  Cape  Herschel  I  found 


yr-i-^^±r^) 


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found:  or,  if  more  convenient,  to  deliver  it  for  that  purpose  to  the  British  -5?     j:jA    / 
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il  l'aura  trouve,  et  de  le  faire  parvenir  au  plutot  au  Secretaire  de  1' Amiraute-^  v^ 
Britannique  a  Londres. 

CrAi.QUtERAque  hallw  este  Panel,  se  le  suplica  de  enviarlo  al  Secretar 
del  Almirantazgo,  en 
donde  se  hallo. 


L    idres,  con  una  nota  del  ti  mipo  y  de'i  Iugar  e 


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Gravenhage,  of  wel'aan.  den  Secretaris  de^ 


Marine  der  Nederlanden  in 

Britsche    Admiraliteit,  te   London,  en  daar  by   te    voegen  eene  NotaT 
>inhoudende  de  tyd  en  de  plaats  alwaar  dit  Papier  is  gevonden  gewordi 

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samme  til  Admiralitets  Secretairen  i  London,  eller  nrjermeste  Embedsmand~7v  ' 
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& 


Secretair  des  Admiralitets  in  London  einzusenden,  niit  gefalliger  angabe 
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Lraidon  Join  Murray ,  AlkemaiicStreet  1859. 


May,  1859.    DISCOVERY  OF  GORE'S  RECORD.  283 

a  small  cairn  built  by  Hobson's  party,  and  con- 
taining a  note  for  me.  He  bad  reached  this,  bis 
extreme  point,  six  days  previously,  without 
having  seen  anything  of  the  wreck,  or  of 
natives,  but  he  had  found  a  record — the  record 
so  ardently  sought  for  of  the  Franklin  Expedi- 
tion— at  Point  Victory,  on  the  N.W.  coast  of 
King  William's  Land. 

That  record  is  indeed  a  sad  and  touching 
relic  of  our  lost  friends,  and,  to  simplify  its 
contents,  I  will  point  out  separately  the  double 
story  it  so  briefly  tells.  In  the  first  place, 
the  record  paper  was  one  of  the  printed  forms 
usually  supplied  to  discovery  ships  for  the  pur- 
pose of  being  enclosed  in  bottles  and  thrown 
overboard  at  sea,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  set 
of  the  currents,  blanks  being  left  for  the  date 
and  position  ;  any  person  finding  one  of  these  re- 
cords is  requested  to  forward  it  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Admiralty,  with  a  note  of  time  and  place  ; 
and  this  request  is  printed  upon  it  in  six  dif- 
ferent languages.  Upon  it  was  written,  appa- 
rently by  Lieutenant  Gore,  as  follows  :— 


"28  of  May 
1847. 


H.  M.  ships  '  Erebus'  and  *  Terror'  win- 
tered in  the  ice  in  lat.  70°  05'  NJ,  long. 
98°  23'  W. 

Having  wintered  in    1846-7    at    Beechey    Island,   in 
lat.  74°  43'  28"  K,  long.  91°  39'  15"  W.,  after  having 


284  INFORMATION  DERIVED.  Chap.  XV. 

ascended  Wellington  Channel  to  lat.  77°,  and  returned 
by  the  west  side  of  Cornwallis  Island. 

"  Sir  John  Franklin  commanding  the  expedition. 

"  All  well. 

"Party  consisting  of  2  officers  and  6  men  left  the 
ships  on  Monday  24th  May,  1847. 

"  Gm.  Goee,  Lieut. 

"  Chas.  F.  Des  Yceux,  Mate." 

There  is  an  error  in  the  above  document, 
namely,  that  the  '  Erebus '  and '  Terror  •  wintered 
at  Beechey  Island  in  1846-7, — the  correct  dates 
should  have  been  1845-6;  a  glance  at  the  date 
at  the  top  and  bottom  of  the  record  proves  this, 
but  in  all  other  respects  the  tale  is  told  in  as 
few  words  as  possible  of  their  wonderful  success 
up  to  that  date,  May,  1847. 

We  find  that,  after  the  last  intelligence  of  Sir 
John  Franklin  was  received  by  us  (bearing  date 
of  July,  1845)  from  the  whalers  in  Melville 
Bay,  his  Expedition  passed  on  to  Lancaster 
Sound,  and  entered  Wellington  Channel,  of 
which  the  southern  entrance  had  been  dis- 
covered by  Sir  Edward  Parry  in  1819.  The 
'  Erebus '  and  '  Terror '  sailed  up  that  strait  for 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  and  reached  in 
the  autumn  of  1845  the  same  latitude  as  was 
attained  eight  years  subsequently  by  H.M.S, 
'  Assistance '  and  '  Pioneer/     Whether  Franklin 


May,  1859.  FROM  GORE'S  RECORD.  285 

intended  to  pursue  this  northern  course,  and  was 
only  stopped  by  ice  in  that  latitude  of  77°  north, 
or  purposely  relinquished  a  route  which  seemed 
to  lead  away  from  the  known  seas  off  the  coast 
of  America,  must  be  a  matter  of  opinion ;  but 
this  the  document  assures  us  of,  that  Sir  John 
Franklin's  Expedition,  having  accomplished  this 
examination,  returned  southward  from  latitude 
77°  north,  which  is  at  the  head  of  Wellington 
Channel,  and  re-entered  Barrow's  Strait  by  a 
new  channel  between  Bathurst  and  Cornwallis 
Islands. 

Seldom  has  such  an  amount  of  success  been 
accorded  to  an  Arctic  navigator  in  a  single 
season,  and  when  the  '  Erebus '  and  '  Terror ' 
were  secured  at  Beechey  Island  for  the  coming 
winter  of  1845-6,  the  results  of  their  first  year's 
labour  must  have  been  most  cheering.  These 
results  were  the  exploration  of  Wellington  and 
Queen's  Channel,  and  the  addition  to  our  charts 
of  the  extensive  lands  on  either  hand.  In  1846 
they  proceeded  to  the  south-west,  and  eventually 
reached  within  twelve  miles  of  the  north  ex- 
treme of  King  William's  Land,  when  their  pro- 
gress was  arrested  by  the  approaching  winter  of 
1846-7.  That  winter  appears  to  have  passed 
without  any  serious  loss  of  life  ;  and  when  in  the 
spring  Lieutenant  Gore  leaves  with  a  party  for 


286  DISCOYEKY  OF  CKOZIER'S  EECORD.    Chap.  XV. 

some  especial  purpose,  and  very  probably  to  con- 
nect the  unknown  coast-line  of  King  William's 
Land  between  Point  Victory  and  Cape  Herschel, 
those  on  board  the  '  Erebus '  and  '  Terror ' 
were  "  all  well,"  and  the  gallant  Franklin  still 
commanded. 

But,  alas!  round  the  margin  of  the  paper 
upon  which  Lieutenant  Gore  in  1847  wrote 
those  words  of  hope  and  promise,  another 
hand  had  subsequently  written  the  following 
words  :• — 

"April  25,1848.— H.  M.  ships  < Terror'  and  < Erebus' 
were  deserted  on  the  22nd  April,  5  leagues  N.N.W. 
of  this,  having  been  beset  since  12th  September,  1846. 
The  officers  and  crews,  consisting  of  105  souls,  under 
the  command  of  Captain  F.  E.  M.  Crozier,  landed  here 
in  lat.  69°  37'  42"  K,  long.  98°  41'  W.  Sir  John 
Franklin  died  on  the  11th  June,  1847;  and  the  total 
loss  by  deaths  in  the  expedition  has  been  to  this  date 
9  officers  and  15  men. 

(Signed)  (Signed) 

"  F.  E.  M.  Crozier,  "  James  Fitzjames, 

"  Captain  and  Senior  Officer.    "  Captain  H.  M.  S.  Erebus. 

"  and  start  (on)  to-morrow,  26th,  for 
Back's  Fish  Eiver." 

This  marginal  information  was  evidently 
written  by  Captain  Fitzjames,  excepting  only 
the  note  stating  when  and  where  they  were 
going,  which  was  added  by  Captain  Crozier. 


May,  1859.     ACCOUNT  OF  THE  EXPEDITION.  287 

There  is  some  additional  marginal  informa- 
tion relative  to  the  transfer  of  the  document 
to  its  present  position  (viz.,  the  site  of  Sir 
James  Boss's  pillar)  from  a  spot  four  miles 
to  the  northward,  near  Point  Victory,  where 
it  had  been  originally  deposited  by  the  late 
Commandeer  (lore.  This  little  word  late  shows 
us  that  he  too,  within  the  twelvemonth,  had 
passed  away. 

In  the  short  space  of  twelve  months  how 
mournful  had  become  the  history  of  Franklin's 
expedition  ;  how  changed  from  the  cheerful 
"  All  well "  of  Graham  Gore  !  The  spring  of 
1847  found  them  within  90  miles  of  the  known 
sea  off  the  coast  of  America  ;  and  to  men  who 
had  already  in  two  seasons  sailed  over  500 
miles  of  previously  unexplored  waters,  how 
confident  must  they  then  have  felt  that  that 
forthcoming  navigable  season  of  1847  would  see 
their  ships  pass  over  so  short  an  intervening 
space !  It  was  ruled  otherwise.  Within  a 
month  after  Lieutenant  Gore  placed  the  record 
on  Point  Victory,  the  much-loved  leader  of  the 
expedition,  Sir  John  Franklin,  was  dead ;  and 
the  following  spring  found  Captain  Crozier, 
upon  whom  the  command  had  devolved,  at 
King  William's  Land,  endeavouring  to  save  his 
starving  men,  105  souls  in  all,  from  a  terrible 


288  DISCREPANCY  IN  THE  RECORD.      Chap.  XV. 

death  by  retreating  to  the  Hudson  Bay  territo- 
ries up  the  Back  or  Great  Fish  River. 

A  sad  tale  was  never  told  in  fewer  words. 
There  is  something  deeply  touching  in  their 
extreme  simplicity,  and  they  show  in  the 
strongest  manner  that  both  the  leaders  of  this 
retreating  party  were  actuated  by  the  loftiest 
sense  of  duty,  and  met  with  calmness  and  de- 
cision the  fearful  alternative  of  a  last  bold 
struggle  for  life,  rather  than  perish  without 
effort  on  board  their  ships ;  for  we  well  know 
that  the  '  Erebus  and  '  Terror '  were  only 
provisioned  up  to  July,  1848. 

Another  discrepancy  exists  in  the  second  part 
of  the  record  written  by  Fitzjames.  The  ori- 
ginal number  composing  the  expedition  was  138 
souls,*  and  the  record  states  the  total  loss  by 
deaths  to  have  been  9  officers  and  15  men,  con- 
sequently that  114  officers  and  men  remained; 
but  it  also  states  that  105  only  landed  under 
Captain  Crozier's  command,  so  that  9  individuals 
are  unaccounted  for. 

Lieutenant  Hobson's  note  told  me  that  he 
found  quantities  of  clothing  and  articles  of  all 
kinds  lying  about  the  cairn,  as  if  these  men, 
aware  that  they  were  retreating  for  their  lives, 


See  Conclusion,  p.  348. 


Mat,  1859.  CAPE  CROZIER.  289 

had  there   abandoned    everything   which   they 
considered  superfluous. 

Hobson  had  experienced  extremely  bad  wea- 
ther— constant  gales  and  fogs — and  thought  he 
might  have  passed  the  wreck  without  seeing 
her ;  he  hoped  to  be  more  successful  upon  his 
return  journey. 

Encouraged  by  this  important  news,  we  ex- 
erted our  utmost  vigilance  in  order  that  no 
trace  should  escape  us. 

Our  provisions  were  running  very  short, 
therefore  the  three  remaining  puppies  were  of 
necessity  shot,  and  their  sledge  used  for  fuel. 
We  were  also  enabled  to  lengthen  our  journeys, 
as  we  had  very  smooth  ice  to  travel  over,  the 
off-lying  islets  keeping  the  rough  pack  from 
pressing  in  upon  the  shore. 

Upon  the  29  th  of  May  we  reached  the 
western  extreme  of  King  William's  Island,  in 
lat.  69°  08'  N.,  and  long.  100°  08'  W.  I  named 
it  after  Captain  Crozier  of  the  '  Terror,'  the 
gallant  leader  of  that  "  Forlorn  Hope  "  of  which 
we  now  just  obtained  tidings.  The  coast  we 
marched  along  was  extremely  low  —  a  mere 
series  of  ridges  of  limestone  shingle,  almost 
destitute  of  fossils.  The  only  tracks  of  animals 
seen  were  those  of  a  bear  and  a  few  foxes — the 

u 


290  DESERTED  BOAT.  Chap.  XV. 

only  living  creatures  a  few  willow  grouse. 
Traces  even  of  the  wandering  Esquimaux  be- 
came much  less  frequent  after  leaving  Cape 
Herschel.  Here  were  found  only  a  few  circles 
of  stones,  the  sites  of  tenting-places,  but  so 
moss-grown  as  to  be  of  great  age.  The  prospect 
to  seaward  was  not  less  forbidding — a  rugged 
surface  of  crushed-up  pack,  including  much, 
heavy  ice.  In  these  shallow  ice-covered  seas, 
seals  are  but  seldom  found ;  and  it  is  highly 
probable  that  all  animal  life  in  them  is  as  scarce 
as  upon  the  land. 

From  Cape  Crozier  the  coast-line  was  found 
to  turn  sharply  away  to  the  eastward  ;  and  early 
in  the  morning  of  the  30th  May  we  encamped 
alongside  a  large  boat — another  melancholy  relic 
which  Hobson  had  found  and  examined  a  few 
days  before,  as  his  note  left  here  informed  me  ; 
but  he  had  failed  to  discover  record,  journal, 
pocketbook,  or  memorandum  of  any  description. 

A  vast  quantity  of  tattered  clothing  was  lying 
in  her,  and  this  we  first  examined.  Not  a  single 
article  bore  the  name  of  its  former  owner.  The 
boat  was  cleared  out  and  carefully  swept  that 
nothing  might  escape  us.  The  snow  was  then 
removed  from  about  her,  but  nothing  whatever 
was  found. 

This  boat  measured  28  feet  long,  and  7  feet 


May,  1859.        DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  BOAT.  291 

3  inches  wide ;  she  was  built  with  a  view  to 
lightness  and  light  draught  of  water,  and  evi- 
dently equipped  with  the  utmost  care  for  the 
ascent  of  the  Great  Fish  River  ;  she  had  neither 
oars  nor  rudder,  paddles  supplying  their  place  ; 
and  as  a  large  remnant  of  light  canvas,  com- 
monly known  as  No.  8,  was  found,  and  also  a 
small  block  for  reeving  a  sheet  through,  I  sup- 
pose she  had  been  provided  with  a  sail.  A 
sloping  canvas  roof  or  rain-awning  had  also 
formed  part  of  her  equipment.  She  was  fitted 
with  a  weather-cloth  9  inches  high,  battened 
down  all  round  the  gunwale,  and  supported 
by  24  iron  stanchions,  so  placed  as  to  serve 
likewise  for  rowing  tho wells.  There  were  50 
fathoms  of  deep-sea  sounding-line  near  her,  as 
well  as  an  ice  grapnel.  She  appeared  to  have 
been  originally  "  carvel "  built ;  but  for  the 
purpose  of  reducing  weight,  very  thin  fir  planks 
had  been  substituted  for  her  seven  upper  strakes, 
and  put  on  "  clincher  "  fashion. 

The  weight  of  the  boat  alone  was  about  700 
or  800  lbs.  only,  but  she  was  mounted  upon  a 
sledge  of  unusual  weight  and  strength.  It  was 
constructed  of  two  oak  planks  23  feet  4  inches 
in  length,  8  inches  in  width,  and  with  an  ave- 
rage thickness  of  2 J  inches.  These  planks 
formed  the  sides  or  runners  of  the  sledge ;  they 

u  2 


292  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  BOAT,  Chap.  XV. 

were  connected  by  five  cross-bars  of  oak,  each 
4  feet  long,  and  4  inches  by  3^  inches  thick, 
and  bolted  down  to  the  runners  ,*  the  underneath 
parts  of  the  latter  were  shod  with  iron.  Upon 
the  cross-bars  five  saddles  or  supporting  chocks 
for  the  boat  were  lashed,  and  the  drag-ropes  by 
which  the  crew  moved  this  massive  sledge,  and 
the  weights  upon  it,  consisted  of  2f-inch  whale- 
line. 

I  have  calculated  the  weight  of  this  sledge  to 
be  650  lbs. ;  it  could  not  have  been  less,  and 
may  have  been  considerably  more.  The  total 
weight  of  boat  and  sledge  may  be  taken  at 
1400  lbs.,  which  amounts  to  a  heavy  load  for 
seven  strong  healthy  men* 


The  only  markings  about  the  boat  were  those 
upon  her  stem,  by  which  we  learned  that  she 
was  built  by  contract,  was  received  into  Wool- 


May,  1859.        DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  BOAT.  293 

wich  Dockyard  in  April,  184  ,*  and  was  num- 
bered 61.  There  may  have  been  a  fourth  figure 
to  the  right  hand,  as  the  stem  had  been  reduced 
in  order  to  lighten  the  boat.  The  ground  the 
sledge  rested  upon  was  the  usual  limestone 
shingle  perfectly  flat,  and  probably  overflowed 
at  times  every  summer,  as  the  stones  were  em- 
bedded in  ice. 

The  boat  was  partially  out  of  her  cradle  upon 
the  sledge,  and  lying  in  such  a  position  as  to 
lead  me  to  suppose  it  the  effect  of  a  violent 
north-west  gale.  She  was  barely,  if  at  all,  above 
the  reach  of  occasional  tides. 

One  hundred  yards  from  her,  upon  the  land 
side,  lay  the  stump  of  a  fir-tree  12  feet  long, 
and  16  inches  in  diameter  at  3  feet  above  the 
roots.  Although  the  ice  had  used  it  roughly 
during  its  drift  to  this  shore,  and  rubbed  off 
every  vestige  of  bark,  yet  the  wood  was  per- 
fectly sound.  It  may  have  been  and  probably 
has  been  lying  there  for  twenty  or  thirty  years, 
and  during  such  a  period  would  suffer  less  decay 
in  this  region  of  frost  than  in  one-sixth  of  the 
time  at  home.  "Within  two  yards  of  it  I  noticed 
a  few  scanty  tufts  of  grass. 

But  all  these  were  after  observations ;  there 


*  Only  the  first  three  figures  of  the  date  upon  her  stem  remained, 
thus— 184  . 


294  SKELETONS  AND  EELICS.  Chap.  XV. 

was  that  in  the  boat  which  transfixed  us  with 
awe.  It  was  portions  of  two  human  skeletons. 
One  was  that  of  a  slight  young  person ;  the 
other  of  a  large,  strongly-made,  middle-aged 
man.  The  former  was  found  in  the  bow  of  the 
boat,  but  in  too  much  disturbed  a  state  to 
enable  Hobson  to  judge  whether  the  sufferer 
had  died  there ;  large  and  powerful  animals, 
probably  wolves,  had  destroyed  much  of  this 
skeleton,  which  may  have  been  that  of  an  officer. 
Near  it  we  found  the  fragment  of  a  pair  of 
worked  slippers,  of  which  I  give  the 
pattern,  as  they  may  possibly  be  iden- 
'  ^iiPIII^  tified.  The  lines  were  white,  with  a 
black  margin  ;  the  spaces  white,  red,  and  yellow. 
They  had  originally  been  1 1  inches  long,  lined 
with  calf-skin  with  the  hair  left  on,  and  the 
edges  bound  with  red  silk  ribbon.  Besides  these 
slippers  there  were  a  pair  of  small  strong  shoot- 
ing half-boots.  The  other  skeleton  was  in  a 
somewhat  more  perfect  state,*  and  was  enveloped 
with  clothes  and  furs  ;  it  lay  across  the  boat, 
under  the  after-thwart.  Close  beside  it  were 
found  five  watches  ;  and  there  were  two  double- 
barrelled  guns — one  barrel  in  each  loaded  and 
cocked — standing  muzzle  upwards  against  the 


*  No  part  of  the  skull  of  either  skeleton  was  found,  with  the 
exception  only  of  the  lower  jaw  of  each. 


May,  1859.  EELICS  ABOUT  THE  BOAT.  295 

boat's  side.  It  may  be  imagined  with  what 
deep  interest  these  sad  relics  were  scrutinised, 
and  how  anxiously  every  fragment  of  clothing 
was  turned  over  in  search  of  pockets  and 
pocketbooks,  journals,  or  even  names.  Five  or 
six  small  books  were  found,  all  of  them  scrip- 
tural or  cfevotional  works,  except  the  '  Vicar  of 
Wakefield.'  One  little  book,  '  Christian  Melo- 
dies,' bore  an  inscription  upon  the  titlepage 
from  the  donor  to  G.  G.  (Graham  Gore  ?)  A 
small  Bible  contained  numerous  marginal  notes, 
and  whole  passages  underlined.  Besides  these 
books,  the  covers  of  a  New  Testament  and 
Prayerbook  were  found. 

Amongst  an  amazing  quantity  of  clothing 
there  were  seven  or  eight  pairs  of  boots  of 
various  kinds — cloth  winter  boots,  sea  boots, 
heavy  ankle  boots,  and  strong  shoes.  I  noted 
that  there  were  silk  handkerchiefs  —  black, 
white,  and  figured — towels,  soap,  sponge,  tooth- 
brush, and  hair-combs ;  macintosh  gun-cover, 
marked  outside  with  paint  A  12,  and  lined  with 
black  cloth.  Besides  these  articles  we  found 
twine,  nails,  saws,  files,  bristles,  wax-ends,  sail- 
makers'  palms,  powder,  bullets,  shot,  cartridges, 
wads,  leather  cartridge-case,  knives — clasp  and 
dinner  ones  —  needle  and  thread  cases,  slow- 
match,  several  bayonet-scabbards  cut  down  into 


296  RELICS  ABOUT  THE  BOAT.  Chap.  XV. 

knife-sheaths,  two  rolls  of  sheet-lead,  and,  in 
short,  a  quantity  of  articles  of  one  description 
and  another  truly  astonishing  in  variety,  and 
such  as,  for  the  most  part,  modern  sledge-tra- 
vellers in  these  regions  would  consider  a  mere 
accumulation  of  dead  weight,  but  slightly  useful, 
and  very  likely  to  break  down  the  strength  of 
the  sledge-crews. 

The  only  provisions  we  could  find  were  tea 
and  chocolate ;  of  the  former  very  little  re- 
mained, but  there  were  nearly  40  pounds  of 
the  latter.  These  articles  alone  could  never 
support  life  in  such  a  climate,  and  we  found 
neither  biscuit  nor  meat  of  any  kind.  A  por- 
tion of  tobacco  and  an  empty  pemmican-tin, 
capable  of  containing  22  pounds  weight,  were 
discovered.  The  tin  was  marked  with  an  E  ;  it 
had  probably  belonged  to  the  '  Erebus.'  None 
of  the  fuel  originally  brought  from  the  ships 
remained  in  or  about  the  boat,  but  there  was 
no  lack  of  it,  for  a  drift-tree  was  lying  on  the 
beach  close  at  hand,  and  had  the  party  been  in 
need  of  fuel  they  would  have  used  the  paddles 
and  bottom-boards  of  the  boat. 

In  the  after-part  of  the  boat  we  discovered 
eleven  large  spoons,  eleven  forks,  and  four  tea- 
spoons, all  of  silver ;  of  these  twenty-six  pieces 
of  plate,  eight  bore  Sir  John  Franklin's  crest, 


May,  1859.  EELICS  ABOUT  THE  BOAT.  297 

the  remainder  had  the  crests  or  initials  of  nine 
different  officers,  with  the  exception  of  a  single 
fork  which  was  not  marked ;  of  these  nine 
officers,  five  belonged  to  the  '  Erebus,' — Gore,  Le 
Vesconte,  Fairholme,  Couch,  and  Goodsir. 
Three  others  belonged  to  the  '  Terror,' — Crozier, 
(a  teaspoon  only),  Hornby,  and  Thomas.  I 
do  not  know  to  whom  the  three  articles  with  an 
owl  engraved  on  them  belonged,  nor  who  was  the 
owner  of  the  unmarked  fork,  but  of  the  owners 
of  those  we  can  identify,  the  majority  belonged 
to  the  *  Erebus.'  One  of  the  watches  bore  the 
crest  of  Mr.  Couch,  of  the  '  Erebus,'  and  as  the 
pemmican  tin  also  came  from  that  ship,  I  am 
inclined  to  think  the  boat  did  also  ;  the  autho- 
rities at  Woolwich  could  tell  (by  her  number) 
to  which  ship  she  was  supplied ;  and  as  one  of 
the  pocket  chronometers  found  in  the  boat  was 
marked,  "  Parkinson  and  Frodsham  980,"  and 
the  other,  "Arnold  2020,"  it  could  also  be  as- 
certained to  which  ship  they  had  been  issued.* 

Sir  John  Franklin's  plate  perhaps  was  issued 
to  the  men  for  their  use,  as  the  only  means  of 
saving  it ;  and  it  seems  probable  that  the  officers 
generally  did  the  same,  as  not    a  single  iron 


*  These  chronometers,  according  to  the  receipts  in  office,  were 
supplied  one  to  each,  ship  in  1845 ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  tell  to 
which  ship  the  boat  belonged,  as  the  number  is  imperfect. 


298  CONJECTUKES.  Chap.  XV, 

spoon,  such  as  sailors  always  use,  has  been 
found.  Of  the  many  men,  probably  twenty  or 
thirty,  who  were  attached  to  this  boat,  it  seemed 
most  strange  that  the  remains  of  only  two  indi- 
viduals were  found,  nor  were  there  any  graves 
upon  the  neighbouring  flat  land  ;  indeed,  bearing 
in  mind  the  season  at  which  these  poor  fellows 
left  their  ships,  it  should  be  remembered  that 
the  soil  was  then  frozen  hard,  and  the  labour  of 
cutting  a  grave  very  great  indeed. 

I  was  astonished  to  find  that  the  sledge  was 
directed  to  the  N.E.,  exactly  for  the  next  point 
of  land  for  which  we  ourselves  were  travelling ! 

The  position  of  this  abandoned  boat  is  about 
50  miles — as  a  sledge  would  travel — from  Point 
Victory,  and  therefore  65  miles  from  the  posi- 
tion of  the  ships ;  also  it  is  70  miles  from  the 
skeleton  of  the  steward,  and  150  miles  from 
Montreal  Island  :  it  is  moreover  in  the  depth  of 
a  wide  bay,  where,  by  crossing  over  10  or  12 
miles  of  very  low  land,  a  great  saving  of  distance 
would  be  effected,  the  route  by  the  coast-line 
being  about  40  miles. 

A  little  reflection  led  me  to  satisfy  my  own 
mind  at  least,  that  the  boat  was  returning  to  the 
ships :  and  in  no  other  way  can  I  account  for 
two  men  having  been  left  in  her,  than  by  sup- 
posing the  party  were  unable  to  drag  the  boat 


May,  1859.  CONJECTURES.  299 

further,  and  that  these  two  men,  not  being  able 
to  keep  pace  with  their  shipmates,  were  there- 
fore left  by  them  supplied  with  such  provisions 
as  could  be  spared  to  last  until  the  return  of 
the  others  from  the  ship  with  a  fresh  stock. 

Whether  it  was  the  intention  of  the  retro- 
ceding  party  to  await  the  result  of  another 
season  in  the  ships,  or  to  follow  the  track  of  the 
main  body  to  the  Great  Fish  Eiver,  is  now  a 
matter  of  conjecture.  It  seems  highly  probable 
that  they  had  purposed  revisiting  the  boat,  not 
only  on  account  of  the  two  men  left  in  charge 
of  it,  but  also  to  obtain  the  chocolate,  the  five 
watches,  and  many  other  articles  which  would 
otherwise  scarcely  have  been  left  in  her. 

The  same  reasons  which  may  be  assigned  for 
the  return  of  this  detachment  from  the  main 
body,  will  also  serve  to  account  for  their  not 
having  come  back  to  their  boat.  In  both  in- 
stances they  appear  to  have  greatly  overrated 
their  strength,  and  the  distance  they  could  travel 
in  a  given  time. 

Taking  this  view  of  the  case,  we  can  under- 
stand why  their  provisions  would  not  last  them 
for  anything  like  the  distance  they  required  to 
travel ;  and  why  they  would  be  obliged  to  send 
back  to  the  ships  for  more,  first  taking  from  the 
detached  party  all  provisions  they  could  possibly 


300  POINT  FRANKLIN.  Chap.  XV. 

spare.  Whether  all  or  any  of  the  remainder  of 
this  detached  party  ever  reached  their  ships  is 
uncertain ;  all  we  know  is,  that  they  did  not  re- 
visit the  boat,  and  which  accounts  for  the  ab- 
sence of  more  skeletons  in  its  neighbourhood; 
and  the  Esquimaux  report  that  there  was  no 
one  alive  in  the  ship  when  she  drifted  on  shore, 
and  that  but  one  human  body  was  found  by 
them  on  board  of  her. 

After  leaving  the  boat  we  followed  an 
irregular  coast-line  to  the  N.  and  N.W.,  up  to 
a  very  prominent  cape,  which  is  probably  the 
extreme  of  land .  seen  from  Point  Victory  by 
Sir  James  Boss,  and  named  by  him  Point 
Franklin,  which  name,  as  a  cape,  it  still  re- 
tains. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  throughout  the  whole 
of  my  journey  along  the  shores  of  King  Wil- 
liam's Land  I  caused  a  most  vigilant  look-out 
to  be  kept  to  seaward  for  any  appearance  of  the 
stranded  ship  spoken  of  by  the  natives ;  our 
search  was  however  fruitless  in  that  respect.       . 


June,  1859.  POINT  VICTORY.  301 


CHAPTEE    XVI 

Errors  in  Franklin's  records — Belies  found  at  the  cairn — Reflections 
on  the  retreat  —  Returning  home  ward  —  Geological  remarks  — 
Difficulties  of  summer  sledging  —  Arrive  onboard  the  'Fox' — 
Navigable  N.W.  passage  —  Death  from  scurvy  —  Anxiety  for 
Captain  Yonng  —  Young  returns  safely. 

On  the  morning  of  2nd  June  we  reached 
Point  Victory.  Here  Hobsons  note  left  for  me 
in  the  cairn  informed  me  that  he  had  not  found 
the  slightest  trace  either  of  a  wreck  anywhere 
upon  the  coast,  or  of  natives  to  the  north  of 
Cape  Crozier. 

Although  somewhat  short  of  provisions,  I 
determined  to  remain  a  day  here  in  order  to 
examine  an  opening  at  the  bottom  of  Back  Bay, 
called  so  after  Sir  George  Back,  by  his  friend 
Sir  James  Ross,  and  which  had  not  been  ex- 
plored. This  proved  to  be  an  inlet  nearly  13 
miles  deep,  with  an  average  width  of  14  or  2 
miles ;  I  drove  round  it  upon  the  dog  sledge, 
but  found  no  trace  of  human  beings ;  it  was 
filled  with  heavy  old  ice,  and  was  therefore 
unfavourable  for  the  resort  of  seals,  and  con- 
sequently of  natives  also. 


302  ERRORS  IN  FRANKLIN'S  EECORDS.    Chap.  XVI. 

The  direction  of  the  inlet  is  to  the  E.S.E. ; 
we  found  the  land  on  either  side  rose  as  we 
advanced  up  it,  and  attained  a  considerable 
elevation,  except  immediately  across  its  head, 
where  alone  it  was  very  low  ;  I  have  conferred 
upon  it  the  name  of  Collinson,  after  one  who 
will  ever  be  distinguished  in  connexion  with 
the  Franklin  search,  and  who  kindly  relieved 
Lady  Franklin  of  much  trouble  by  taking  upon 
himself  the  financial  business  of  this  expedition. 

An  extensive  bay,  westward  of  Cape  Herschel, 
I  have  named  after  Captain  Washington,  the 
hydrographer,  a  stedfast  supporter  of  this  final 
search. 

All  the  intermediate  coast-line  along  which 
the  retreating  crews  performed  their  fearful 
march  is  sacred  to  their  names  alone. 

Hobson's  note  informed  me  of  his  having 
found  a  second  record,  deposited  also  by  Lieut. 
Gore  in  May,  1847,  upon  the  south  side  of  Back 
Bay,  but  it  afforded  no  additional  information. 

It  is  strange  that  both  these  papers  state  the 
ships  to  have  wintered  in  1846-7  at  Beechey 
Island !  So  obvious  a  mistake  would  hardly 
have  been  made  had  any  importance  been 
attached  to  these  documents.  They  were 
soldered  up  in  thin  tin  cylinders,  having  been 
filled  up  on  board  prior  to  the  departure  of  the 


June,  1859.      CHARACTER  OF  THE  RECORDS.  303 

travellers ;  consequently  the  day  upon  which 
they  were  deposited  was  not  filled  in ;  but 
already  the  papers  were  much  damaged  by  rust, 
— a  very  lew  more  years  would  have  rendered 
them  wholly  illegible.  "When  the  record  left 
at  Point^Yictory  was  opened  to  add  thereto  the 
supplemental  information  which  gives  it  its 
chief  value,  Captain  Fitzjames,  as  may  be  con- 
cluded by  the  colour  of  the  ink,  filled  in  the 
date  —  28th  —  in  May,  when  the  record  was 
originally  deposited.  The  cylinder  containing 
this  record  had  not  been  soldered  up  again ;  I 
suppose  they  had  not  the  means  of  doing  so ; 
it  was  found  on  the  ground  amongst  a  few  loose 
stones  which  had  evidently  fallen  along  with  it 
from  the  top  of  the  cairn.  Hobson  removed 
every  stone  of  this  cairn  down  to  the  ground 
and  rebuilt  it. 

Brief  as  these  records  are,  we  must  needs  be 
contented  with  them  ;  they  are  perfect  models 
of  official  brevity.  No  log-book  could  be  more 
provokingly  laconic.  Yet,  that  any  record  at  all 
should  be  deposited  after  the  abandonment  of 
the  ships,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  intended ; 
and  we  should  feel  the  more  thankful  to  Cap- 
tains Crozier  and  Fitzjames,  to  whom  we  are 
indebted  for  the  invaluable  supplement;  and 
our  gratitude  ought  to  be  all  the  greater  when 


304  RELICS  AT  THE  CAIRN.  Chap.  XVI. 

we  remember  that  the  ink  had  to  be  thawed, 
and  that  writing  in  a  tent  during  an  April  day  in 
the  Arctic  regions  is  by  no  means  an  easy  task. 

Besides  placing  a  copy  of  the  record  taken 
away  by  Hobson  from  the  cairn,  we  both  put 
records  of  our  own  in  it ;  and  I  also  buried  one 
under  a  large  stone  ten  feet  true  north  from  it, 
stating  the  explorations  and  discoveries  we  had 
made. 

A  great  quantity  and  variety  of  things  lay 
strewed  about  the  cairn,  such  as  even  in  their 
three  days'  march  from  the  ships  the  retreating 
crews  found  it  impossible  to  carry  further. 
Amongst  these  were  four  heavy  sets  of  boat's 
cooking  stoves,  pickaxes,  shovels,  iron  hoops, 
old  canvas,  a  large  single  block,  about  four  feet 
of  a  copper  lightning  conductor,  long  pieces  of 
hollow  brass  curtain  rods,  a  small  case  of  selected 
medicines  containing  about  twenty-four  phials, 
the  contents  in  a  wonderful  state  of  preserva- 
tion ;  a  dip  circle  by  Eobinson,  with  two  needles, 
bar  magnets,  and  light  horizontal  needle  all 
complete,  the  whole  weighing  only  nine  pounds  ; 
and  even  a  small  sextant  engraved  with  the 
name  of  "  Frederic  Hornby  "  lying  beside  the 
cairn  without  its  case.  The  coloured  eye-shades 
of  the  sextant  had  been  taken  out,  otherwise  it 
was  perfect ;  the  moveable  screws  and  such  parts 


June,  1859.  EELICS  AT  THE  CAIRN.  305 

as  come  in  contact  with  the  observer's  hand  were 
neatly  covered  with  thin  leather  to  prevent 
frost-bite  in  severe  weather. 

The  clothing  left  by  the  retreating  crews  ot 
the  '  Erebus '  and  '  Terror '  formed  a  huge  heap 
four  feet^  high ;  every  article  was  searched,  but 
the  pockets  were  empty,  and  not  one  of  all 
these  articles  was  marked, — indeed  sailors'  warm 
clothing  seldom  is.  Two  canteens,  the  property 
of  marines,  were  found,  one  marked  "88  0°. 
Wm.  Hedges,"  and  the  other  "  89  C°.  Wm. 
Hether."  A  small  pannikin  made  out  of  a  two- 
pound  preserved-meat  tin  had  scratched  on  it 
"  W.  Mark." 

When  continuing  my  homeward  march,  and, 
as  nearly  as  I  could  judge,  2i  or  21  miles  to  the 
north  of  Point  Victory,  I  saw  a  few  stones  placed 
in  line,  as  if  across  the  head  of  a  tenting  place 
to  afford  some  shelter ;  here  it  was  I  think  that 
Lieutenant  Gore  deposited  the  record  in  May, 
1847,  which  was  found  in  1848  by  Lieutenant 
Irving,  and  finally  deposited  at  Point  Victory. 
Some  scraps  of  tin  vessels  were  lying  about, 
but  whether  they  had  been  left  by  Sir  James 
Boss's  party  in  May,  1830,  or  by  the  Franklin 
Expedition  in  1847  or  1848,  is  uncertain.* 


*  It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance  that  when,  in  1830,  Sir  James 
Ross  discovered  Point  Victory,  he  named  two  points  of  land,  then 

X 


306  REFLECTIONS  ON  THE  RETREAT.     Chap.  XVI. 

Here  ended  rny  own  search  for  traces  of  the 
lost  ones.  Hobson  found  two  other  cairns,  and 
many  relics,  between  this  position  and  Cape 
Felix.  From  each  place  where  any  trace  was 
discovered  the  most  interesting  of  the  relics 
were  taken  away,  so  that  the  collection  we  have 
made  is  very  considerable. 

Of  these  northern  cairns  I  will  write  a  descrip- 
tion when  I  have  received  Hobson's  account  of 
his  journey ;  but  here  it  is  as  well  to  state  his 
opinion,  as  well  as  my  own,  that  no  part  of  the 
coast  between  Cape  Felix  and  Cape  Crozier  has 
been  visited  by  Esquimaux  since  the  fatal  march 
of  the  lost  crews  in  April,  1848  ;  none  of  the 
cairns  or  numerous  articles  strewed  about — 
which  would  be  invaluable  to  the  natives — or 
even  the  driftwood  we  noticed,  had  been  touched 
by  them.  From  this  very  significant  fact  it 
seems  quite  certain  that  they  had  not  been  dis- 
covered by  the  Esquimaux,  whose  knowledge  of 
the  "  white  men  falling  down  and  dying  as  they 
walked  along  "  must  be  limited  to  the  shore-line 
southward  and  eastward  of  Cape  Crozier,  and 
where,  of  course,  no  traces  were  permitted  to 
remain  for  us  to  find.      It  is  not  probable  that 


in  sight,  Cape  Franklin  and  Cape  Jane  Franklin  respectively. 
Eighteen  years  afterwards  Franklin's  ships  perished  within  sight  of 
those  headlands. 


June,  1859.  RETURNING  HOMEWARD.  307 

such  fearful  mortality  would  have  overtaken 
them  so  early  in  their  march  as  within  80 
miles  by  sledge-route  from  the  abandoned  ships 
— such  being  their  distance  from  Cape  Crozier ; 
nor  is  it  probable  that  we  could  have  passed 
the  wregk  had  she  existed  there,  as  there  are 
no  off-lying  islands  to  prevent  a  ship  drifting 
in  upon  the  beach ;  whilst  to  the  southward 
they  are  very  numerous ;  so  much  so  that  a 
drifting  ship  could  hardly  run  the  gauntlet 
between  them  so  as  to  reach  the  shore. 

The  coast  from  Point  Victory  northward  is 
considerably  higher  than  that  upon  which  we 
have  been  so  many  days ;  the  sea  also  is  not  so 
shallow,  and  the  ice  comes  close  in  ;  to  seaward 
all  was  heavy  close  pack,  consisting  of  all  de- 
scriptions of  ice,  but  for  the  most  part  old  and 
heavy. 

From  Walls'  Bay  I  crossed  overland  to  the 
eastern  shore,  and  reached  my  depot  near  the 
entrance  of  Port  Parry  on  the  5th  June,  after 
an  absence  of  thirty-four  days.  Hence  I  pur- 
posed travelling  alongshore  to  Cape  Sabine,  in 
order  to  avoid  the  rough  ice  which  we  encoun- 
tered when  crossing  direct  from  Cape  Victoria 
in  April,  and  also  hoping  to  obtain  a  few  more 
observations  for  the  magnetic  inclination. 

The  weather  became  foggy  as  we  approached 

x  2 


308  RETURNING  HOMEWARD.  Chap.  XVI. 

Prince  George's  Bay,  therefore  we  were  obliged 
to  go  well  into  it  before  attempting  to  cross. 
We  gained  the  land — upon  the  opposite  side,  as 
I  supposed — and  which  would  lead  us  direct  to 
Cape  Sabine  ;  but  when  the  weather  cleared  up 
we  saw  a  long  low  island  to  seaward  of  us, 
which  puzzled  me  much.  Eventually  I  found 
we  had  discovered  a  strait  leading  from  Prince 
George's  Bay  into  Wellington  Strait,  about 
8  miles  south  of  Cape  Sabine. 

This  discovery  cost  us  a  day's  delay,  and  was 
therefore  unwelcome,  as  we  were  then  in  daily 
expectation  and  dread  of  the  thaw,  which  ren- 
ders all  travelling  so  very  difficult ;  and  we  were 
still  230  long  miles  from  our  ship.  In  this 
strait  we  found  a  deserted  snow  village  of 
seventeen  huts ;  one  of  them  was  unusually 
large,  its  internal  diameter  being  14  feet.  The 
men  soon  scraped  together  enough  blubber  to 
supply  us  with  fuel  for  our  homeward  march. 
Strewed  about  on  the  ice  or  in  every  snow  hut 
were  shavings  and  chips  of  fresh  wood ;  in  one  of 
them  I  found  a  child's  toy — a  miniature  sledge — 
made  of  wood.  No  traces  of  natives  were  found 
upon  either  shore  at  this  place,  nor  had  I  met 
with  any  since  leaving  the  western  coast  of  the 
island  to  the  southward  of  Cape  Crozier. 

Having  passed  through  nearly  to  the  eastern 


ISOLATED   ICEBERG. 
Drawn  by  P.  Skelton,  from  a  Sketch  by  Captain  Allen  Youn£. 


June,  1859.  GEOLOGICAL  KEMAEKS.  309 

end  of  the  strait,  we  cut  off  some  distance  by 
crossing  overland,  so  as  to  reach  the  sea-coast 
3  or  4  miles  southward  of  Cape  Sabine.  A  few 
willow  grouse,  two  foxes,  and  a  young  reindeer 
were  seen.  There  was  some  vegetation  upon 
the  land;  and  animals  appeared  to  resort  to  this 
locality  in  tolerable  abundance  ;  the  contrast 
between  it  and  the  low,  barren  shores  we  had 
so  recently  come  from  was  striking  indeed ! 

Nothing  can  exceed  the  gloom  and  desolation 
of  the  western  coast  of  King  William's  Island ; 
Hobson  and  myself  had  some  considerable  expe- 
rience of  it ;  his  sojourn  there  exceeded  a  month ; 
its  climate  seems  different  from  that  of  the  east- 
ern coast;  it  is  more  exposed  to  north-west  winds, 
and  the  air  was  almost  constantly  loaded  with 
chilling  fogs.  Everywhere  upon  the  shores  of 
the  island  I  noticed  boulders  of  dark  gneiss  ; 
upon  the  west  coast  they  were  generally  small, 
and  of  a  dark  gray  colour.  About  the  north 
part  of  the  island  Hobson  found  a  good  deal  of 
sandstone,  the  probable  result  of  ice-drift  from 
Melville  Island  or  Banks  Land. 

This  land  gives  one  the  idea  of  its  having 
risen  within  a  recent  geological  period  from  the 
sea — not  suddenly,  but  at  regular  intervals ;  the 
numerous  terraces  or  beach-marks  form  long 
horizontal  lines,  rising  very  gradually,  and  in 


310  BOOTHIA  FELIX.  Chap.  XVI. 

due  proportion  as  their  distance  increases  from 
the  sea ;  near  the  shore  they  are,  of  course,  most 
distinct.  Upon  the  west  coast  some  fossils  were 
picked  up,  chiefly  impressions  of  shells. 

King  William's  Island  is  for  the  most  part 
extremely  barren,  and  its  surface  dotted  over 
with  innumerable  ponds  and  lakes.  It  is  not  by 
any  means  the  "  land  abounding  with  reindeer 
and  musk  oxen "  which  we  expected  to  find  : 
the  natives  told  us  there  were  none  of  the  latter 
and  very  few  of  the  former  upon  it. 

On  the  8th  June  the  first  ducks  and  brent 
geese  were  seen  flying  northward.  Passing  over 
the  extreme  point  of  Cape  Victoria,  Boothia 
Land,  near  which  we  saw  the  deserted  snow  huts 
of  our  March  acquaintances,  and  shortly  after- 
wards crossing  the  mouth  of  the  deep  bay  to  the 
north  of  it,  in  which,  sheltered  by  the  island,  a 
ship  would  find  security  from  ice  pressure,  and 
very  tolerable  winter  quarters,  we  again  reached 
the  straight  low  limestone  coast  of  Boothia  Felix. 

I  was  unable  to  make  any  delay  at  the  Mag- 
netic Pole,  nor  could  I  find  a  trace  of  Eoss's 
cairn  ;*  but  at  each  of  our  encampments  along 


*  This  cairn,  as  well  as  the  one  built  on  Point  Victory  in  1830, 
was  removed  by  the  natives  ;  fortunately  they  had  not  visited  Point 
Victory  whilst  the  Franklin  cairn  and  record  remained  there,  other- 
wise neither  cairn  nor  record  would  have- remained  for  us  to  discover. 


June,  1859.  BOOTHIA  FELIX.  311 

the  coast  the  magnetic  inclination  was  carefully 
observed.  Throughout  rny  whole  journey  I 
availed  myself  of  every  opportunity  of  obtaining 
these  most  interesting  observations,  often  re- 
maining up,  after  we  had  encamped  for  rest,  six 
or  seven  hours  in  order  to  do  so ;  but  the  instru- 
ments supplied  for  this  purpose  were  not  well 
adapted,  and  occasioned  me  a  vast  deal  of  labour 
and  loss  of  time,  so  as  to  diminish  to  almost 
one-third  the  results  I  should  otherwise  have 
obtained.  Much  snow  has  disappeared  off  the 
land ;  and  the  ridges  or  ancient  beaches,  being 
the  parts  most  free  from  snow,  showed  out 
strongly  in  long,  dark,  horizontal  lines,  rising 
above  each  other  until  lost  to  view  in  the  in- 
terior. Here  and  there  a  few  fossil  shells  and 
corals  were  picked  up,  and  four  or  five  willow 
grouse  shot. 

13th  June.  —  We  passed  from  limestone  to 
granite  in  lat.  71°  10'  N.  Here  the  land  attains 
to  considerable  elevation.  In  the  hollows  of  the 
dark  granite  rocks  we  found  abundance  of  water, 
and  also  in  a  few  places  upon  the  sea-ice ;  it 
was  quite  evident  that  in  another  day  or  two 
the  snow  would  altogether  yield  to  the  warmth 
of  summer  ;  birds  were  now  frequently  seen. 

We  discovered  a  narrow  channel  to  the  east- 
ward of  the  one  between  the  Tasmania  Group, 


312  ILLNESS  OF  HOBSON.  Chap.  XVI. 

through  which  we  had  passed  with  so  much 
difficulty  in  April ;  our  new  channel  was 
covered  with  smooth  ice,  and  was  also  much 
shorter. 

At  one  of  our  depots  lately  visited,  a  note  left 
by  Hobson  informed  me  of  his  being  six  days 
in  advance  of  me,  and  also  of  his  own  serious 
illness ;  for  many  days  past  he  had  been  unable 
to  walk,  and  was  consequently  conveyed  upon 
the  sledge ;  his  men  were  hastening  home  with 
all  their  strength  and  speed,  in  order  to  get  him 
under  the  Doctor's  care.  We  also  were  doing 
our  best  to  push  on,  lest  the  bursting  out  of 
melting  snow  from  the  various  ravines  should 
render  the  ice  impassable. 

On  the  15th  the  snow  upon  the  ice  every- 
where yielded  to  the  effects  of  increased  tem- 
perature ;  I  was,  indeed,  most  thankful  at  its 
having  remained  firm  so  long.  To  make  any 
progress  at  all  after  this  date  was  of  course  a 
very  great  labour,  requiring  the  utmost  efforts 
of  both  the  men  and  the  dogs  ;  nor  was  the 
freezing  mixture  through  which  we  trudged  by 
any  means  agreeable  :  we  were  often  more  than 
knee-deep  in  it. 

"We  succeeded  in  reaching  False  Strait  on  the 
morning  of  the  18th  June,  and  pitched  our  tent 
just  as  heavy  rain  began  to  descend  ;  it  lasted 


June,  1859.     ARRIVE  ON  BOARD  THE  'FOX.'  313 

throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  day.  After 
travelling  a  few  miles  upon  the  Long  Lake, 
further  progress  was  found  to  be  quite  impos- 
sible, and  we  were  obliged  to  haul  our  sledges 
up  off  the  flooded  ice,  and  commence  a  march 
of  16  or,  17  miles  overland  for  the  ship.  The 
poor  dogs  were  so  tired  and  sore-footed,  that 
we  could  not  induce  them  to  follow  us  ;  they 
remained  about  the  sledges.  After  a  very 
fatiguing  scramble  across  the  hills  and  through 
the  snow  valleys  we  were  refreshed  with  a 
sight  of  our  poor  dear  lonely  little  '  Fox/  and 
arrived  on  board  in  time  for  a  late  breakfast  on 
19th  June. 

With  respect  to  a  navigable  North-West  Pas- 
sage, and  to  the  probability  of  our  having  been 
able  last  season  to  make  any  considerable  ad- 
vance to  the  southward,  had  the  barrier  of  ice 
across  the  western  outlet  of  Bellot  Strait  per- 
mitted us  to  reach  the  open  water  beyond,  I 
think,  judging  from  what  I  have  since  seen  of 
the  ice  in  the  Franklin  Strait,  that  the  chances 
were  greatly  in  favour  of  our  reaching  Cape 
Herschel,  on  the  S.  side  of  King  William's 
Land,  by  passing  (as  I  intended  to  do)  eastward 
of  that  island. 

From  Bellot  Strait  to  Cape  Victoria  we  found 
a  mixture  of  old  and  new  ice,  showing  the  exact 


314  NAVIGABLE  N.W.  PASSAGE.        Chap.  XVI. 

proportion  of  pack  and  of  clear  water  at  the 
setting  in  of  winter.  Once  to  the  southward 
of  the  Tasmania  Group,  I  think  our  chief  diffi- 
culty would  have  been  overcomes  and  south 
of  Cape  Victoria  I  doubt  whether  any  further 
obstruction  would  have  been  experienced,  as 
but  little,  if  any,  ice  remained.  The  natives 
told  us  the  ice  went  away,  and  left  a  clear 
sea  every  year.  As  our  discoveries  show  the 
Victoria  Strait  to  be  but  little  more  than  20 
miles  wide,  the  ice  pressed  southward  through 
so  narrow  a  space  could  hardly  have  prevented 
our  crossing  to  Victoria  Land,  and  Cambridge 
Bay,  the  wintering  place  reached  by  Collinson, 
from  the  west. 

No  one  who  sees  that  portion  of  Victoria 
Strait  which  lies  between  King  William's 
Island  and  Victoria  Land,  as  we  saw  it,  could 
doubt  of  there  being  but  one  way  of  getting  a 
ship  through  it,  that  way  being  the  extremely 
hazardous  one  of  drifting  through  in  the  pack. 

The  wide  channel  between  Prince  of  Wales5 
Land  and  Victoria  Land  admits  a  vast  and  con- 
tinuous stream  of  very  heavy  ocean-formed  ice 
from  the  N.W.,  which  presses  upon  the  western 
face  of  King  William's  Island,  and  chokes  up 
Victoria  Strait  in  the  manner  I  have  just  de- 
scribed.   I  do  not  think  the  North- West  Passage 


June,  1859.        NAVIGABLE  N.W.  PASSAGE.  315 

could  ever  be  sailed  through  by  passing  west- 
ward— that  is,  to  windward — of  King  William's 
Island. 

If  the  season  was  so  favourable  for  navigation 
as  to  open  the  northern  part  of  this  western  sea# 
(as,  for  instance,  in  1846,  when  Sir  J.  Franklin 
sailed  down  it),  I  think  but  comparatively  little 
difficulty  would  be  experienced  in  the  more 
southern  portion  of  it  until  Victoria  Strait  was 
reached.  Had  Sir  John  Franklin  known  that 
a  channel  existed  eastward  of  King  William's 
Land  (so  named  by  Sir  John  Ross),  I  do  not 
think  he  would  have  risked  the  besetment  of 
his  ships  in  such  very  heavy  ice  to  the  west- 
ward of  it ;  but  had  he  attempted  the  north- 
west passage  by  the  eastern  route,  he  would 
probably  have  carried  his  ships  safely  through 
to  Behring's  Straits.  But  Franklin  was  fur- 
nished with  charts  which  indicated  no  passage 
to  the  eastward  of  King  William's  Land,  and 
made  that  land  (since  discovered  by  Rae  to  be 
an  island)  a  peninsula  attached  to  the  continent 
of  North  America ;  and  he  consequently  had 
but  one  course  open  to  him,  and  that  the  one  he 
adopted. 

My  own  preference  for  the  route  by  the  east 


*  This  channel  is   now  named  after  the   illustrious  navigator 
Admiral  Sir  John  Franklin. 


316  NAVIGABLE  N.W.  PASSAGE.        Chap.  XVI. 

side  of  the  island  is  founded  upon  the  observa- 
tions and  experience  of  Eae  and  Collinson  in 
1851-2-4.  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  barrier  of 
ice  off  Bellot  Strait,  some  3  or  4  miles  wide, 
was  the  only  obstacle  to  our  carrying  the  ■  Fox,' 
according  to  my  original  intention,  southward 
to  the  Great  Fish  River,  passing  east  of  King 
"William's  Island,  and  from  thence  to  a  winter- 
ing position  on  Victoria  Land.  Perhaps  some 
future  voyager,  profiting  by  the  experience  so 
fearfully  and  fatally  acquired  by  the  Franklin 
expedition,  and  the  observations  of  Rae,  Collin- 
son, and  myself,  may  succeed  in  carrying  his 
ship  through  from  sea  to  sea  ;  at  least  he  will 
be  enabled  to  direct  all  his  efforts  in  the  true 
and  only  direction.  In  the  mean  time  to 
Franklin  must  be  assigned  the  earliest  dis- 
covery of  the  North- West  Passage,  though  not 
the  actual  accomplishment  of  it,  in  his  ships.* 

Saturday,  2nd  July, — Upon  my  arrival  on 
board  on  the  morning  of  the  1 9th  June,  my  first 
inquiries  were  about  Hobson  ;  I  found  him  in  a 


*  This  will  be  understood  when  it  is  recollected  that  W.  of 
Simpson  Straits  or  Victoria  Land  a  navigable  passage  to  Behring's 
Straits  is  known  to  exist  along  the  coast  of  North  America.  Franklin 
himself,  with  his  companion  Kichardson,  surveyed  by  far  the  greater 
portion  of  that  distance.  Franklin's  and  Parry's  discoveries  overlap 
each  other  in  longitude,  and  for  the  last  thirty  years  or  more  the  dis- 
covery of  the  North-West  Passage  has  been  reduced  to  the  discovery 
of  a  link  uniting  the  two. 


July,  1859.  DEATH  FROM  SCURVY.  317 

worse  state  than  I  expected.  He  reached  the 
ship  on  the  14th,  unable  to  walk,  or  even  stand 
without  assistance  ;  but  already  he  was  begin- 
ning to  amend,  and  was  in  excellent  spirits. 
Christian  had  shot  several  ducks,  which,  with 
preserved  potato,  milk,  strong  ale,  and  lemon- 
juice,  completed  a  very  respectable  dietary  for  a 
scurvy-stricken  patient.  All  the  rest  were  tole- 
rably well ;  slight  traces  only  of  scurvy  in  two 
or  three  of  the  men.  The  ship  was  as  clean 
and  trim  as  I  could  expect,  and  all  had  well 
and  cheerfully  performed  their  duties  during 
my  absence ;  hardly  any  game  had  been  shot, 
except  one  bear. 

The  Doctor  now  acquainted  me  with  the  death 
of  Thomas  Blackwell,  ship's  steward,  which  oc- 
curred only  five  days  previously,  and  was  occa- 
sioned by  scurvy.  This  man  had  scurvy  when 
I  left  the  ship  in  April,  and  no  means  were  left 
untried  by  the  Doctor  to  promote  his  recovery 
and  rally  his  desponding  energies  ;  but  his  mind, 
unsustained  by  hope,  lost  all  energy,  and  at  last 
he  had  to  be  forcibly  taken  upon  deck  for  fresh 
air.  For  months  past  the  ship's  spirits  had  been 
of  necessity  removed  from  under  his  control. 

When  too  late  his  shipmates  made  it  known 
that  he  had  a  dislike  to  preserved  meats,  and 
had  lived  the  whole  winter  upon  salt  pork  !    He 


318  ANXIETY  FOE  CAPTAIN  YOUNG.     Chap.  XVI. 

also  disliked  preserved  potato,  and  would  not 
eat  it  unless  watched,  nor  would  he  put  on 
clean  clothes,  which  others  in  charity  prepared 
for  him.  Yet  his  death  was  somewhat  unex- 
pected ;  he  went  on  deck  as  usual  to  walk  in  the 
middle  of  the  day,  and,  when  found  there,  was 
quite  dead.  His  remains  were  buried  beside 
those  of  our  late  shipmate  Mr.  Brand. 

The  news  of  our  success  to  the  southward  in 
tracing  the  footsteps  of  the  lost  expedition 
greatly  revived  the  spirits  of  my  small  crew ; 
we  wished  only  for  the  safe  and  speedy  return 
of  Young  and  his  party. 

Captain  Young  commenced  his  spring  explo- 
rations on  the  7th  April,  with  a  sledge  party 
of  four  men,  and  a  second  sledge  drawn  by  six 
dogs  under  the  management  of  our  Green- 
lander,  Samuel ;  finding  in  his  progress  that  a 
channel  existed  between  Prince  of  Wales'  Land 
and  Victoria  Land  whereby  his  discovery  and 
search  would  be  lengthened,  he  sent  back  one 
sledge,  the  tent,  and  four  men  to  the  ship,  in 
order  to  economise  provisions,  and  for  forty 
days  journeyed  with  one  man  (George  Hobday) 
and  the  dogs,  encamping  in  such  snow  lodges 
as  they  were  able  to  build. 

This  great  exposure  and  fatigue,  together 
with  extremelv  bad  weather,  and  a  most  difficult 


July,  1859.     ANXIETY  FOR  CAPTAIN  YOUNG.  319 

coast-line  to  trace,  greatly  injured  his  health ; 
he  was  compelled  to  return  to  the  ship  on  7th 
June  for  medical  aid,  but  purposing  at  all 
hazards  to  renew  his  explorations  almost  imme- 
diately. Dr.  Walker  met  this  determination  by 
a  strong  protest  in  writing  against  his  leaving 
the  ship  again,  his  health  being  quite  unequal 
to  it ;  but  after  three  days  Young  felt  himself 
somewhat  better,  and,  with  a  zeal  which  knew 
no  bounds,  set  off  to  complete  his  branch  of 
the  search,  taking  with  him  both  his  sledge 
parties. 

From  the  Doctor's  account  I  felt  most  anxious 
for  his  return,  lest  his  health,  or  that  of  his 
companions,  should  receive  permanent  injury ; 
in  fact  this  was  now  my  only  cause  of  anxiety 
The  season  was  rather  forward  here,  and  ad- 
vancing with  unusual  rapidity,  rain  and  wind 
dissolving  the  snow  and  ice ;  there  was  much 
water  in  Bellot  Strait,  extending  from  Half-way 
Island  eastward  to  the  table  land,  and  thence  in 
a  narrow  lane  to  Long  Island.  After  a  day  or 
two  I  could  perceive  a  vast  improvement  in 
Hobson,  and  my  own  four  men,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Hampton  who  required  rest,  were  in  sound 
health  ;  so  also  was  my  companion  Petersen. 
On  24th  June  Christian  shot  two  small  rein- 
deer, which  gave  us  1 70  lbs.   of  meat ;  a  few 


320  TREATMENT  OF  DOGS.  Chap.  XVI. 

days  before  that  he  shot  a  seal,  which  afforded 
two  sumptuous  meals  for  all  on  board. 

The  time  having  elapsed  during  which  Young 
expected  to  remain  absent,  and  the  difficulties  of 
the  transit  from  the  western  sea  having  become 
greatly  increased,  I  set  off  early  on  the  25th  June 
with  my  four  men,  intending  to  visit  Pemmican 
Rock  ;  but  failing  to  come  across  him  there,  I  re- 
solved to  carry  on  provisions  as  far  as  Four  River 
Point,  in  the  hope  of  meeting  with  him,  and  of  fa- 
cilitating his  return.  To  our  surprise  the  water 
had  all  drained  off  the  frozen  surface  of  the  Long 
Lake,  and  it  therefore  afforded  excellent  travel- 
ling. We  found  the  poor  dogs  lying  quietly  be- 
side our  sledges;  they  had  attacked  the  pemmican, 
and  devoured  a  small  quantity  which  was  not 
secured  in  tin,  also  some  blubber,  some  leather 
straps,  and  a  gull  that  I  had  shot  for  a  speci- 
men ;  but  they  had  not  apparently  relished  the 
biscuit.  Poor  dogs  !  they  have  a  hard  life  of  it 
in  these  regions.  Even  Petersen,  who  is  gene- 
rally kind  and  humane,  seems  to  fancy  they  must 
have  little  or  no  feeling  :  one  of  his  theories  is, 
that  you  may  knock  an  Esquimaux  dog  about 
the  head  with  any  article,  however  heavy,  with 
perfect  impunity  to  the  brutes.  One  of  us  up- 
braided him  the  other  day  because  he  broke  his 
whip-handle   over  the  head  of  a  dog.     "  That 


July,  1859.    SEARCH  FOR  CAPTAIN  YOUNG.  321 

was  nothing  at  all"  he  assured  us  :  some  friend  of 
his  in  Greenland  found  he  could  beat  his  dogs 
over  the  head  with  a  heavy  hammer, — it  stunned 
them  certainly, — but  by  laying  them  with  their 
mouths  open  to  the  wind,  they  soon  revived,  got 
up,  and  ran  about  "  all  right." 

We  lost  no  time  in  giving  them  a  good  feed, 
the  first  for  seven  days,  yet  they  did  not  seem 
unusually  hungry,  and  soon  coiled  themselves 
up  to  sleep  again.  Whilst  the  men  and 
dogs  were  employed  next  day  in  conveying  a 
sledge  to  the  east  end  of  the  lake,  I  walked  to 
Cape  Bird  to  look  out  for  the  absent  party, 
but  they  had  not  yet  returned  to  Pemmican 
Rock. 

When  vainly  endeavouring,  with  felonious 
intentions,  to  climb  up  a  steep  cliff  to  the  breed- 
ing-places of  some  silvery  gulls,  I  saw  and  shot 
a  brent  goose,  seated  upon  an  accessible  ledge, 
and  made  a  prize  of  four  eggs  ;  it  seems  strange 
that  this  bird  should  have  selected  so  unusual  a 
breeding-place.  Many  seals  were  basking  on 
the  ice,  and  the  watercourse  by  which  our 
sledges  ascended  a  week  before  to  the  Long 
Lake  was  now  a  strong  and  rapid  stream.  A 
few  reindeer  were  seen. 

On  the  27th  I  sent  three  of  the  men  back  to 
the  ship,  and  with  Thompson  and  the  dogs  went 


322  YOUNG  EETUENS  SAFELY.         Chap.  XYI. 

on  to  Pemmican  Rock,  where,  to  our  great  joy, 
we  happily  met  Young  and  his  party,  who  had 
but  just  returned  there,  after  a  long  and  suc- 
cessful journey,  the  particulars  of  which  I  will 
give  hereafter. 

Young  was  greatly  reduced  in  flesh  and 
strength,  so  much  weakened  indeed  that  for  the 
last  few  days  he  had  travelled  on  the  dog 
sledge  ;  Harvey — also  far  from  well — could  just 
manage  to  keep  pace  with  the  sledge ;  his 
malady  was  scurvy.  Their  journies  had  been 
very  depressing ;  most  dismal  weather,  low 
dreary  limestone  shores  devoid  of  game,  and 
no  traces  of  the  lost  expedition.  The  news  of 
our  success  in  the  southern  journies  greatly 
cheered  them.  On  the  following  day  we  were 
all  once  more  on  board,  and  indulging  in  such 
rapid  consumption  of  eatables  as  only  those  can 
do  who  have  been  much  reduced  by  long-con- 
tinued fatigue  and  exposure  to  cold.  Venison, 
ducks,  beer,  and  lemon-juice,  daily;  preserved 
apples  and  cranberries  three  times  a-week  ;  and 
pickled  whaleskin — a  famous  antiscorbutic — 
ad  libitum  for  all  who  liked  it.  The  weather, 
which  for  the  last*week  had  been  wet,  windy, 
and  miserable,  now  set  in  fair.  The  carpenter's 
hammer,  and  the  men?s  voices  at  their  work, 
were  new  and  animating  sounds. 


July,  1859.  SIGNS  OF  KELEASE.  323 


CHAPTER    XVII 

Signs  of  release  —  Dearth  of  animal  life  —  Owl  is  good  beef  — 
Beat  out  of  winter  quarters  —  Our  game-list  —  Beach  Fury 
Beach  —  Escape  from  Begent's  Inlet  —  In  Baffin's  Bay  —  Captain 
Allen  Young's  journey' — Disco;  sad  disappointment  —  Part 
from  our  Esquimaux  friends  —  Adieu  to  Greenland  —  Arrive 
home. 

To-day  (2nd  July)  I  took  a  long  and  delight- 
ful walk,  but  shot  only  two  ducks  ;  Petersen 
went  in  another  direction,  and  got  nothing  ; 
Christian,  after  toiling  all  day  in  his  kayak, 
returned  with  only  two  divers  and  a  duck. 
Lately  he  has  obtained  for  us  several  king  and 
long-tailed  ducks  (no  eider  ducks  have  been 
seen),  two  red-throated  divers,  and  two  brent 
geese,  and  caught  an  ermine  in  its  summer 
coat.  Yesterday  one  of  the  men  brought  on  board 
a  trout  weighing  2  lbs. ;  he  saw  a  glaucous  gull 
and  a  fox  disputing  for  it ;  the  former  seems  to 
have  killed  and  brought  it  to  land. 

The  water  now  washes  the  south  side  of  the 
Fox  Islands,  and  extends  to  *the  south  point  of 
Long  Island.  The  month  of  June  has  been 
somewhat  warmer  than  usual,  its  mean  tempera- 
ture being  +35^°. 

y  2 


324  SIGNS  OF  KELEASE.  Chap.  XVII. 

9  th. — The  ship  has  been  thoroughly  cleaned 
and  restowed,  remaining  provisions  examined, 
tanks  filled  with  fresh  water,  12  tons  of  stone 
ballast  taken  in,  and  everything  brought  on 
board  that  was  landed  last  autumn.  Hobson 
is  the  only  one  upon  the  sick  list;  but  he 
is  able  to  walk  about  and  does  duty.  Yery 
few  birds,  and  only  one  small  seal,  have  been 
obtained  during  the  week  ;  an  occasional  great 
northern  diver  is  seen,  and  a  rare  land  bird 
has  been  shot.  We  cannot  discover  the  nests 
of  either  ducks  or  geese,  and  the  breeding 
cliffs  of  the  gulls  being  inaccessible,  we  have 
not  got  any  eggs.  I  am  a  close  prisoner  at 
the  corner  of  my  table,  poring  over  my  obser- 
vation and  angle  book,  and  have  at  length 
laid  down  upon  paper  the  west  coast  of  King 
William's  Land  to  my  satisfaction.  Tidal  obser- 
vations are  commenced;  and  the  aneroid  and 
mercurial  barometers  are  again  being  compared 
in  order  to  verify  the  former. 

16th.  Saturday  night. — We  are  now  almost 
ready  for  sea.  There  is  a  much  larger  space  of 
water  in  Bellot  Strait,  reaching  within  300  or 
400  yards  of  us.  Bong  cracks  or  lanes  of  water 
have  been  seen  in  Prince  Regent's  Inlet.  The 
decay    of  the   ice   continues,  though   not  with 


July,  1859.  SHOOTING  SEALS.  325 

equal  rapidity,  yet  with  very  satisfactory  de- 
spatch. Westerly  winds  and  clear  weather  pre- 
vail. Christian  has  seen  two  reindeer  this  week, 
and  has  shot  a  very  few  birds,  and  seven  seals. 
As  these  creatures  lie  basking  upon  the  ice, 
he  crawls  up  to  them  behind  a  small  calico 
screen,  fitted  upon  a  miniature  sledge  about  a 
foot  long,  on  which  there  is  a  rest  for  the 
muzzle  of  his  rifle,  and  a  slit  in  the  calico 
through  which  he  fires  it.  The  seals  afford  an 
average  weight  of  thirty  pounds  of  excellent 
fresh  meat,  which  we  relish  greatly,  and  con- 
sider much  better  suited  to  our  present  condi- 
tion than  such  poor  venison  as  reindeer  would 
furnish  at  this  season.  A  single  hare  has  been 
shot ;  the  white  fur  has  nearly  all  disappeared, 
and  left  exposed  the  summer  coat  of  dull  lead 
colour.  Several  small  birds  not  common  to  the 
northward  are  found  here.  Insects  abound  ;  the 
Doctor  is  perpetually  in  chase,  unless  busily 
occupied  in  grubbing  up  plants.  Young  is 
surveying  the  harbour.  Hobson  fully  occupied 
with  preparing  the  ship  for  sea.  I  have  been 
giving  some  attention  to  the  engines  and  boiler, 
and  hope,  with  the  help  of  the  two  stokers,  to 
be  able  to  make  use  of  our  steam  power. 

The  men  have   received   my  hearty  thanks 


326  DEARTH  OF  ANIMAL  LIFE.       Chap.  XVII. 

for  their  great  exertions  during  the  travelling 
period.  I  told  them  I  considered  every  part  of 
our  search  to  have  been  fully  and  efficiently  per- 
formed. Our  labours  have  determined  the  exact 
position  of  the  extreme  northern  promontory  of 
the  continent  of  America  ;  I  have  affixed  to  it 
the  name  of  Murchison,  after  the  distinguished 
President  of  the  Eoyal  Geographical  Society — 
the  strenuous  advocate  for  this  "  further  search" 
— and  the  able  champion  of  Lady  Franklin 
when  she  needed  all  the  support  which  private 
friendship  and  public  spirit  could  bestow. 

23rd. — The  ice  in  Prince  Eegent's  Inlet  is 
broken  up  into  pack,  but  the  prevalence  of 
easterly  winds  keeps  it  close  in  upon  the  shore. 
The  ice  about  us  is  very  much  decayed,  holes 
through  it  in  many  places.  JSTo  reindeer  seen 
this  week,  and  only  two  seals  procured ;  one 
of  them  shot  by  Christian,  the  other  was  killed 
by  a  bear,  which  ran  off  before  Samuel  could 
come  within  shot  of  him.  A  fox,  a  gull,  a 
couple  of  ducks,  and  one  or  two  lemmings,  com- 
plete our  game  list  for  the  week,  yet  our  two 
Esquimaux  are  indefatigable  in  the  pursuit. 
We  eat  all  the  birds  and  seals  we  can  shoot, 
as  well  as  mustard  and  cress  as  fast  as  we  can 
grow  it,  but  the  quantity  is  very  small.  We 
sometimes   refresh    ourselves   with   a    salad    of 


Aug.  1859.         DEARTH  OF  ANIMAL  LIFE.  327 

sorrel-leaves,  or  roots  of  the  little  plant  with 
lilac  flower  of  snapdragon  shape,  named  Pedi- 
cularis  hirsuta. 

The  seine  has  been  hauled  in  the  narrow  lake 
at  the  head  of  the  harbour,  but,  as  it  was  not 
well  managed,  only  a  dozen  small  trout  were 
taken,  though  several  were  seen.  We  have 
tried  for  rock-cod,  but  without  success.  The 
relics  of  the  lost  expedition  have  been  aired,  ex- 
hibited to  the  crew,  labelled,  and  packed  away. 
The  Doctor  has  been  dredging  lately.  A  record 
detailing  our  proceedings  has  been  placed  in  a 
cairn  upon  the  west  point  of  Depot  Bay. 

1st  August, — A  long  continuance  of  unusually 
calm,  bright,  and  warm  weather  has  been  fa- 
vourable to  our  painting  and  cleaning  the  ship, 
scraping  masts,  and  so  forth.  The  result  is 
that  she  looks  unusually  smart  and  gay,  and 
our  impatience  to  exhibit  her,  and  ourselves  at 
home  is  much  increased.  With  the  exception  of 
a  few  gulls,  and  a  duck,  our  hunters  have  shot 
nothing  lately,  although  constantly  out,  either 
darting  about  in  their  kayaks  or  ranging  over 
the  hills ;  in  fact  there  is  nothing  which  they 
can  shoot;  the  ducks  are  tolerably  numerous, 
but  extremely  wild  ;  the  valleys  are  respectably 
clothed  with  vegetation,  yet  only  one  animal — 
a  hare — has  been   seen,      I    was  so   fortunate 


328  OUT  OF  WINTER  QUARTERS.      Chap.  XVII. 

as  to  shoot  a  snowy  owl,  the  flesh  of  which 
was  white  and  tender,  but,  to  my  palate,  taste- 
less, although  Petersen  considers  that  "  owl  is 
the  best  beef  in  the  country." 

On  Thursday  night  we  found  the  harbour-ice 
to  be  quietly  drifting  out,  of  course  taking  us 
with  it.  The  night  was  calm,  the  current  in 
Bellot  Strait  very  strong  ;  we  were  almost  help- 
less under  the  circumstances,  and  therefore  felt 
the  danger  of  our  position.  To  warp  the  ship 
along  the  ice-edge,  out  of  the  way  of  the  shore 
and  rocks  as  it  turned  round  and  drifted  along 
the  cliffs  to  the  westward,  gave  us  some  hours' 
occupation.  At  length  it  stuck  fast  between 
Fox  Island  and  the  main. 

At  turn  of  tide  on  Friday  morning  it  began 
to  drift  eastward,  and  by  this  time  being  much 
broken  up,  and  a  breeze  coming  to  our  aid,  we 
managed  to  extricate  ourselves  and  reach  a 
secure  anchorage  in  Port  Kenedy. 

On  Saturday  night  some  ice  that  was  left  came 
drifting  out  of  the  inner  harbour,  and  obliged 
us  to  slip  our  cable ;  but  after  a  few  hours  we 
regained  our  berth  in  safety,  and  have  since 
been  undisturbed.  There  is  no  immediate 
prospect  of  escape,  but  we  expect  a  prodigious 
smashing  up  of  the  ice  whenever  a  strong  wind 
springs  up   to   set   it  in   motion.     To-day  the 


Aug.  1859.  WAITING  TO  ESCAPE.  329 

steam  was  got  up,  and  with  the  help  of  our 
two  stokers  I  worked  the  engines  for  a  short 
time.  It  is  very  cheering  to  know  that  we 
still  have  steam  power  at^  our  command,  al- 
though, hy  the  deaths  of  poor  Mr.  Brand  and 
Robert  Scott,  we  were  deprived  of  our  engineer 
and  engine-driver. 

The  mean  temperature  for  July  has  been 
40o#  14,  which  is  above  the  average  for  this 
region ;  the  July  temperatures  have  usually 
varied  from  36°  to  42°. 

All  are  now  in  good  health,  but  Hobson  still 
a  little  lame.  The  issue  of  lemon-juice  has 
been  reduced  to  the  ordinary  allowance  of  half 
an  ounce  daily  (as  we  have  but  little  that  is 
really  good),  lest  another  winter  should  become 
inevitable,  which,  I  can  devoutly  say,  may  God 
forbid ! 

Monday  night,  8th. — Yery  anxiously  awaiting 
an  opportunity  to  escape.  We  have  constantly 
watched  the  ice  from  the  neighbouring  hills, 
including  the  lofty  summit  of  Mount  Walker 
— named  after  the  Doctor,  who  was  the  first 
to  ascend  it  (1123  feet) — from  which  Fury 
Point  can  be  distinguished,  but  nothing  very 
cheering  has  been  seen.  We  had  a  N.E.  gale, 
accompanied  by  rain  and  a  considerable  fall  of 
the  barometer,  a  few  days  ago ;  and  as  it  blew 


330  HOPE  OF  ESCAPE.  Chap.  XVII. 

freshly  from  the  westward  this  morning,  I  went 
to  a  hill-top  and  saw  that  much  ice  had  been 
broken  up  in  Brentford  Bay,  and  that  there 
were  streaks  of  water  along  the  land  between 
Possession  Point  and  Hazard  Inlet ;  this  water, 
however,  was  not  accessible  to  us. 

The  ice  about  Pemmican  Eock  was  much  in 
the  same  position  as  we  found  it  last  year,  but 
Bellot  Strait  was  perfectly  clear.  All  the  ice 
in  this  harbour,  in  Depot  Bay,  and  Hazard 
Inlet,  is  gone,  by  far  the  greater  part  having 
decayed,  not  drifted  away. 

Later  in  the  day,  and  from  loftier  hill-tops, 
a  good  deal  of  water  was  seen  off  Cape  Garry, 
and  a  water-sky  beyond.  It  now  blows  very 
strongly  from  the  S.W.,  the  most  desirable 
quarter ;  and  as  the  anxious  desire  to  escape 
has  become  oppressive,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  that  now  our  hopes  have  become  extra- 
vagant. We  may  even  make  a  start  to-mor- 
row !  On  the  other  hand,  a  careful  examination 
of  our  provision  store  shows  that,  should  we  be 
obliged  to  spend  another  winter  here,  we  must 
curtail  our  allowance  of  meat — fresh  and  salt — 
to  three-quarters  of  a  pound,  and  have  to  use 
but  very  indifferent  lemon-juice.  The  spirits, 
I  rejoice  to  say,  will  very  shortly  be  entirely 
expended. 


I 


Aug.  1859. 


GAME  LIST. 


531 


On  the  morning  of  the  3rd  instant,  when  the 
rain  ceased  and  N.E.  gale  sprang  up,  two  claps 
of  thunder  were  distinctly  heard  ;  this  occurs 
but  very  rarely  in  these  latitudes.  There  is 
ample  occupation  for  the  men,  but  not  much 
for  the  officers ;  as  for  myself,  I  write  a  great 
deal,  and--  work  occasionally  at  our  chart  of 
discoveries ;  the  only  refreshment  I  indulge  in 
is  an  occasional  dive  into  packets  of  old  letters. 
All  yesterday  the  harbour  was  full  of  ice  set 
in  by  southerly  and  westerly  winds,  and  so 
closely  packed  that  one  might  have  walked  over 
it  to  the  shore  ;  to-day  it  has  nearly  all  drifted 
out  again.  The  subjoined  list  will  show  what 
game  we  have  been  able  to  obtain  by  constant 
and  arduous  labour  from  the  resources  of  these 
regions  during  nearly  two  years'  sojourn. 


Game  List. 


8  Mths.  in  the  Pack,  1857-8. 

11  Months  in  Port  Kenedy,  1858-9. 

Bears. 
2 

Seals. 
73 

Dovekies. 
38 

Foxes. 

I 

1 

Bears. 

2 

Deer. 
8 

Hares. 
9 

Foxes. 
19 

Ptarmi- 
gan. 

82 

Wild 
Fowl. 

98 

Seals. 
18 

At  Port  Kenedy  several  ermines  and  lemmings  were  also  caught. 
The  ptarmigan  all  disappeared  after  1st  April. 
Only  2  dovekies  were  seen,  1  in  winter,  and  1  in  summer  plumage. 
A  few  seals  were  seen  as  early  as  the  month  of  February. 
Ducks,  geese,  and  gulls  were  the  usual  kind  of  wild  fowl  killed. 
During  the  4  months  occupied  in  sailing  from  Davis  Strait  to  Bellot 
Strait,  many  looms  and  rotchies,  and  5  or  6  bears  were  shot. 


332  CRESSWELL  BAY.  Chap.  XVII. 

Wednesday,  10th. — The  S.W.  wind  proved 
a  good  friend  to  us ;  by  the  morning  of  the 
9th  it  had  moved  the  ice  off  shore,  and  cleared 
away  a  passage  for  us  out  of  Brentford  Bay. 
We  started  under  steam  at  eleven  o'clock  yester- 
day morning,  and,  passing  round  Long  Island, 
made  sail  along  the  land  towards  Cape  Garry, 
there  being  a  channel  about  2  or  3  miles  wide 
between  the  pack  and  the  shore. 

The  wind  now  failed  us,  and  I  experienced 
some  little  difficulty  in  the  management  of  the 
engines  and  boiler ;  the  latter  primed  so  vio- 
lently as  to  send  the  water  over  our  top  gallant 
yard,  and  the  tail  valve  of  the  condenser  by  some 
means  had  got  out  of  its  seat,  and  admitted  air 
to  the  condenser ;  but  eventually  we  got  the 
engines  to  work  well,  and  steamed  across  Cress- 
well  Bay  during  the  night.  The  pack  rested 
against  Fury  Point,  and  an  east  wind  springing 
up,  we  made  fast  to  a  large  grounded  mass  of 
ice  in  Adelaide  Bay,  about  \  mile  off  shore,  and 
in  3  fathoms'  water,  at  eleven  o'clock  this  morn- 
ing. Having  managed  the  engines  for  twenty- 
four  consecutive  hours,  I  was  not  sorry  to  get 
into  bed.  We  were  hardly  out  of  Brentford 
Bay  when  fulmar  petrels  and  white  whales  were 
seen ;  the  first  we  have  noticed  for  eleven  and  a 


Aug.  1859.  TRACES  OF  OUR  VISIT.  333 

half  months.  Dovekies  are  likewise  abundant, 
and  a  seal  has  already  been  shot.  Cresswell 
Bay  is  perfectly  clear  of  ice,  but  this  pale  lime- 
stone land  is  the  perfection  of  sterility,  even 
with  the  rugged  hills  of  Brentford  Bay  in  lively 
recollection. 

Upon  the  east  side  of  Port  Kenedy  the  bones 
of  whales  were  found  in  two  places  a  mile  apart 
from  each  other;  the  lowest  of  them  was  180 
feet  above  the  sea,  the  second  was  more  than 
300  feet  high.  The  latter  I  examined,  and 
found  a  jaw-bone,  two  ribs,  a  joint  of  the 
vertebrae,  and  fragments  of  other  bones,  all 
more  or  less  buried  in  the  soil,  and  much 
heavier  than  the  bones  of  a  recent  animal ; 
they  lay  within  40  or  50  yards  of  each  other, 
and  upon  a  little  flat  patch  of  rather  rich  earth, 
a  rocky  hill  above,  and  steep  slope  below; — 
they  are  also  nearly  a  mile  inland. 

Of  the  traces  which  we  have  left  behind  us, 
the  most  considerable  are  the  graves  of  our  two 
shipmates  within  the  western  point  of  our  little 
harbour  ;  they  were  tastefully  sodded  round,  and 
planted  over  with  the  usual  Arctic  flowers. 
There  is  our  record  in  a  conspicuous  cairn  at 
the  west  point  of  Depot  or  Transition  Bay  :  we 
left  also  three  cases  of  pemmican  near  the  east 


334  A  WHITE  WHALE  SHOT.         Chap.  XYII. 

end  of  the  Long  Lake,  and  our  travelling  boat 
near  its  west  end,  at  the  head  of  False  Strait. 

Monday,  loth. — Strong  east  winds,  with  much 
rain,  have  imprisoned  us  here  for  the  last  four 
days,  and  driven  the  whole  pack  close  in,  com- 
pletely filling  up  Cresswell  Bay.  We  remain 
fast  to  the  grounded  ice,  which  shields  us  from 
pressure,  otherwise  we  should  have  been  driven 
irretrievably  on  shore.  A  couple  more  seals 
and  a  white  whale  have  been  shot ;  the  latter 
measured  13i  feet  long,  and  proved  to  be  a 
female  of  ordinary  dimensions,  and  of  an 
uniform  cream  colour ;  the  eyes  are  extremely 
small,  and  orifices  of  the  ears  scarcely  large 
enough  to  admit  a  crow-quill.  We  dined  off 
steaks  of  the  flesh,  and  prefer  it  to  seal,  which 
it  very  much  resembles,  but  is  not  quite  so 
tender ;  the  skin  is  greatly  prized  by  the 
Greenlanders  as  an  antiscorbutic;  it  is  a  sort 
of  gristly  gelatinous  substance,  nearly  half  an 
inch  thick,  and  possessing  very  little  taste  ;  fried 
and  eaten  with  fish-sauce,  it  reminded  me  of 
cod  sound,  though  not  so  good. 

The  blubber  fills  two  twenty-gallon  casks  ; 
it  produces  oil  of  a  quality  superior  to  seal  oil ; 
not  an  ounce  of  the  flesh  or  skin  of  this  huge 
animal  has  been  thrown  away,  the  men  having 
a  wholesome  dread  of  scurvy,  and  unbounded 


Aug.  1859.  PASS  FUEY  BEACH.  335 

confidence  in  "  blood-meat,"  such  as  this  !  The 
Doctor  has  picked  up  a  few  fossils  very  similar  to 
those  formerly  brought  home  from  Port  Leopold. 

To  our  great  joy  the  east  wind  died  away  this 
morning,  and  immediately  a  west  wind  sprang 
up,  which  very  quickly  freshened  to  a  smart  gale. 
At  four  o'clock  this  afternoon  we  were  able  to 
make  sail,  the  ice  having  moved  about  3  miles 
off  shore.  Passed  within  a  mile  of  Fury  Beach 
two  hours  afterwards,  and  saw  the  framing  of 
the  house,  the  boats  and  casks  very  distinctly. 

17th. — After  passing  Fury  Beach  it  fell  calm, 
so  we  steamed  up  as  far  as  Batty  Bay.  On 
Tuesday  afternoon  we  were  '  off  Port  Leopold, 
running  fast,  when  thick  fog  came  on,  and  we 
got  involved  in  loose  ice,  and  seriously  damaged 
our  rudder.  The  boats  and  stores  at  Port  Leo- 
pold appeared  to  remain  as  we  left  them  last 
year.  The  flag-staff  on  the  summit  of  North- 
east Cape  (over  Whale  Point)  is  still  standing, 
but  not  erect. 

Fog  and  ice  obstructed  our  progress  during 
the  night;  but  this  morning  when  I  came  on 
deck  at  eight  o'clock,  the  day  was  bright,  clear, 
and  charming ;  no  ice  visible,  except  about  Leo- 
pold Island,  which  was  now  some  miles  behind 
us.  Towards  evening  the  wind  became  con- 
trary. 


336  OUT  OF  SIGHT  OF  LAND.         Chap.  XVII, 

Sunday  evening,  21st. — At  sea — out  of  sight  of 
land! 

On  the  19th  we  were  somewhat  delayed  by- 
loose  ice  off  Cape  Hay,  but  by  noon  yesterday 
were  close  off  Cape  Burney,  and  whilst  almost 
becalmed  there,  a  mother  bear  swam  off  to  us 
with  two  interesting  cubs  about  the  size  of  very 
large  dogs — foolish  creatures  !  a  volley  of  rifles 
decided  their  fate  in  a  very  few  seconds.  Not 
finding  any  whaling  vessels  off  Pond's  Inlet, 
the  land-ice  which  shelters  the  whales  having 
all  disappeared,  we  therefore  concluded  that  the 
whalers  had  left  in  consequence,  so,  without 
seeking  for  them  further  south,  at  once  changed 
our  course  for  Disco. 

To-day  only  a  few  icebergs  have  been  seen. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  swell,  so  we  tumble  about. 
Roast  veal  has  appeared  amongst  the  delicacies 
of  our  table  since  the  battue  of  yesterday,  and 
Christian  has  asked  for  a  portion  of  the  old  bear 
to  carry  home  to  his  mother.  Bear's  flesh  is 
really  considered  a  delicacy  in  Greenland. 

25th. —  Becalmed  off  Hare  Island,  and  getting 
the  steam  ready.  We  are  only  108  miles  from 
Godhavn,  and  the  anxiety  to  clutch  our  letters 
has  become  intolerable.  No  pack-ice  has  been 
met  with  in  our  passage  across  Baffin's  Bay,  but 
many  icebergs.     This  morning  the  lofty  snow- 


Aug.  1859.        CAPTAIN  YOUNG'S  JOURNEY.  337 

clad  land  of  Noursoak  and  Disco  was  beauti- 
fully distinct;  and  at  the  same  time  the  wind 
died  away,  leaving  us,  at  least,  the  opportunity 
to  contemplate  at  our  leisure,  their  gloomy 
grandeur. 

26th.— -Steamed  for  ten  hours  last  night.    Fair 
winds  and  calms  have  alternated  since  then,  but 
this  evening  we  are  within  20  miles,  and  hope 
soon  to   get   into    port.     I  have  been  reading 
over  Young's  report  of  his  spring  journey.     It 
comprises  seventy-eight  days    of  sledge-travel- 
ling,   and   certainly   under   most    discouraging 
circumstances.     Leaving  the  ship  on  7th  April, 
he  crossed  the  western  strait  to  Prince  of  Wales' 
Land,  and  thence  traced  its  shore  to  the  south 
and  west.      On  reaching  its  southern  termina- 
tion'— Cape    Swinburne,    so    named   in    honour 
of  Rear- Admiral   Swinburne,   a  much-esteemed 
friend  of  Sir  J.  Franklin,  and  one  of  the  earliest 
supporters  of  this  final  expedition — he  describes 
the  land  as  extremely  low,  and  deeply  covered 
with    snow,    the    heavy    grounded    hummocks 
which  fringed  its  monotonous  coast  alone  indi- 
cating the  line  of  demarcation  betwixt  land  and 
sea.      To  the  north-east  of  this  terminal  cape 
the  sea  was  covered  with  level  floe  formed  in 
the  fall  of  last  year,  whilst  all  to  the  north- 
westward of  the  same  cape  was  pack  consisting 

z 


338  CAPTAIN  YOUNG'S  JOURNEY.     Chap.  XV1L 

of  heavy  ice-masses,  formed  perhaps  years  ago 
in  far  distant  and  wider  seas. 

Young  attempted  to  cross  the  channel  which 
he  discovered  between  Prince  of  Wales'  Island 
and  Victoria  Land  ;  hut  from  the  rugged  nature 
of  the  ice,  found  it  quite  impracticable  with 
the  means  and  time  remaining  at  his  disposal. 
Young  expresses  his  firm  conviction  that  this 
channel  is  so  constantly  choked  up  with  un- 
usually heavy  ice  as  to  be  quite  unnavigable  ;  it 
is,  in  fact,  a  continuous  ice-stream  from  the  N.W. 
His  opinion  coincides  with  my  own,  and  with 
those  of  Captains  Ommanney  and  Osborn,  when 
those  officers  explored  the  north-western  shores 
of  Prince  of  Wales'  Land  in  1851. 

Fearing  that  his  provisions  might  run  short, 
he  sent  back  one  sledge  with  four  men,  and  con- 
tinued his  march  with  only  one  man  and  the 
dogs  for  forty  days !  They  were  obliged  to 
build  a  snow-hut  each  night  to  sleep  in,  as  the 
tent  was  sent  back  with  the  men ;  but  latterly, 
when  the  weather  became  more  mild,  they  pre- 
ferred sleeping  on  the  sledge,  as  the  construct- 
ing of  a  snow-hut  usually  occupied  them  for 
two  hours.  Young  completed  the  exploration 
of  this  coast  beyond  the  point  marked  upon 
the  charts  as  Osborn's  farthest,  up  nearly  to 
lat.   73°  N.,  but  no  cairn  was  found.     Young, 


Aug.  1859.        CAPTAIN  YOUNG'S  JOURNEY.  339 

however,  recognised  the  remarkably  shaped 
conical  hills  spoken  of  by  Osborn,  when  he  at 
his  farthest,  in  1851,  struck  off  to  the  westward. 
The  coast-line  throughout  was  extremely  low  ; 
and  in  the  thick  disagreeable  weather  which  he 
almost  constantly  experienced,  it  was  often  a 
matter  of  great  difficulty  to  prevent  straying 
off  the  coast-line  inland.  He  commenced  his 
return  on  11th  May,  and  reached  the  ship  on 
7th  June,  in  wretched  health  and  depressed  in 
spirits. 

Directly  his  health  was  partially  re-esta- 
blished, he,  in  spite  of  the  Doctor's  remon- 
strances, as  I  have  before  said,  again  set  out  on 
the  10th  with  his  party  of  men  and  the  dogs, 
to  complete  the  exploration  of  both  shores  of 
the  continuation  of  Peel  Sound,  between  the 
position  of  the  '  Fox '  and  the  points  reached  by 
Sir  James  Eoss  in  1849,  and  Lieutenant  Browne 
in  1851.  This  he  accomplished  without  finding 
any  trace  of  the  lost  expedition,  and  the  parties 
were  again  on  board  by  28th  June.  The  ice 
travelled  over  in  this  last  journey  was  almost 
all  formed  last  autumn. 

The  extent  of  coast-line  explored  by  Captain 
Young  amounts  to  380  miles,  whilst  that  dis- 
covered by  Hobson  and  myself  amounts  to 
nearly  420  miles,  making  a  total  of  800  geo- 

z  2 


340  HOBSON'S  JOURNEY.  Chap.  XVII. 

graphical  miles  of  new  coast-line  which  we  have 
laid  down. 

Hobson's   report  is   a  minute    record   of  all 

that  occurred  during  his  journey  of  seventy -four 

days,  and  includes  a  list  of  all  the  relics  brought 

on  board,  or  seen  by  him.     He  suffered  very 

severely  in  health  :   when  only  ten   days   out 

from  the  ship,  traces  of  scurvy  appeared ;  when 

a  month  absent  he  walked  lame ;  towards  the 

latter  end  of  the  journey  he  was  compelled  to 

allow  himself  to  be  dragged  upon  the  sledge, 

not  being  able  to  walk  more  than  a  few  yards 

at  a  time  ;  and  on  arriving  at  the  ship  on  the 

14th  June,  poor  Hobson  was  unable  to  stand. 

How   strongly   this   bears   upon    the    last   sad 

march  of  the  lost  crews !     And  yet  Hobson's 

food  throughout  the  whole  journey  was  pemmi- 

can  of  the  very  best  quality,  the  most  nutritious 

description  of  food  that  we  know  of,  and  varied 

occasionally  by  such  game  as  they  were  able  to 

shoot.     In  spite  of  this  fresh-meat  diet,  scurvy 

advanced  with  rapid  strides. 

After  leaving  me  at  Cape  Victoria,  he  says — 
c<  No  difficulty  was  experienced  in  crossing 
James  Ross  Strait.  The  ice  appeared  to  be  of 
but  one  year's  growth ;  and  although  it  was  in 
many  places  much  crushed  up,  we  easily  found 
smooth  leads  through  the  lines  of  hummocks; 


Aug.  1859.  HOBSON'S  JOURNEY.  341 

many  very  heavy  masses  of  ice,  evidently  of 
foreign  formation,  have  been  here  arrested  in 
their  drift :  so  large  are  they  that,  in  the  gloomy 
weather  we  experienced,  they  were  often  taken 
for  islands." 

Again,  at  Cape   Felix,   he  observes, — "  The 
pressure  of  the  ice  is  severe,  but  the  ice  itself  is 
not  remarkably  heavy  in  character  ;  the  shoalness 
of  the  coast  keeps  the  line  of  pressure  at  a  con- 
siderable distance  from  the  beach  :  to  the  north- 
ward of  the  island  the  ice,  as  far  as  I  could  see, 
was    very  rough,   and   crushed   up    into    large 
masses."      Here  we  notice  the  gradual  change 
in  the  character  of  the  ice  as  Hobson  left  the 
Boothian  shore  and  advanced  towards  Victoria 
Strait.     The  ""very  heavy  masses  of  ice,   evi- 
dently of  foreign   formation,"    had   drifted   in 
from  the  N.W.  through  M'Clure  Strait ;  Victoria 
Strait  was  full  of  it ;  and  Hobson's  description  of 
the  ice  he  passed  over   clearly  illustrates   how 
Franklin,    leaving    clear    water    behind    him, 
pressed  his  ships  into  the  pack  when   he    at- 
tempted to  force  through  Victoria  Strait.     How 
very  different   the  result   might   and   probably 
would  have  been  had  he  known  of  the  existence 
of  a  ship-channel,  sheltered  by  King  William 
Island  from  this  tremendous  "  polar  pack  "  ! 
Hobson  left  King  William  Island  on  the  last 


342  HOBSON'S  JOURNEY.  Chap.  XVII. 

day  of  May,  having  spent  thirty-one  days  on  its 
desolate  shores.  During  that  period  one  bear 
and  five  willow  grouse  were  shot ;  one  wolf  and 
a  few  foxes  were  seen.  One  poor  fox  was  either 
so  desperately  hungry,  or  so  charmed  with  the 
rare  sight  of  animated  beings,  that  he  played 
about  the  party  until  the  dogs  snapped  him  up, 
although  in  harness  and  dragging  the  sledge  at 
the  time.  A  few  gulls  were  seen,  but  not  until 
after  the  first  week  in  June. 

I  have  already  explained  how  Hobson  found 
the  records  and  the  boat :  he  exercised  his  dis- 
cretionary power  with  sound  judgment,  and 
completed  his  search  so  well,  that,  in  coming 
over  the  same  ground  after  him,  I  could  not 
discover  any  trace  that  had  escaped  him. 

I  quite  agree  with  him  that  there  may  be 
many  small  articles  beneath  the  snow ;  but  that 
cairns,  graves,  or  any  conspicuous  objects  could 
exist  upon  so  low  and  uniform  a  shore,  without 
our  having  seen  them,  is  almost  impossible. 

Sunday  evening,  29th. — Calm,  warm,  lovely 
weather  ;  and  we  are  thoroughly  enjoying  it  in 
the  quiet  security  of  Lievely  harbour,  or  God- 
havn.  Although  Friday  night  was  dark,  we  ma- 
naged to  find  out  the  harbour's  mouth,  and  slowly 
steamed  into  it.  The  inhabitants  were  awoke 
by  Petersen  demanding  our  letters,  but  great 


Aug.  1859.  LETTERS  FROM  ENGLAND.  343 

indeed  was  our  disappointment  at  finding  only 
a  very  few  letters  and  two  or  three  papers,  and 
these  for  the  officers  only  !  It  appears  that  on 
the  arrival  of  the  whalers  in  early  spring,  the 
ice  prevented  their  usual  communication  with 
the  settlement,  therefore  the  letters  on  board 
of  them  were  unavoidably  carried  northward. 
Some  few,  however,  which  came  out  in  the 
'  Truelove,'  were  landed  at  the  neighbouring 
settlement  of  Nbursoak,  and  from  thence  were 
sent  back  to  Grodhavn. 

It  is  rather  a  nervous  thing  opening  the  first 
letters  after  a  lapse  of  more  than  two  years. 
We  received  them  in  our  beds  at  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning ;  and  when  we  met  at  breakfast 
were  able,  thank  God !  to  congratulate  each 
other  upon  the  receipt  of  cheering  home  news. 
Lady  Franklin  and  Miss  Cracroft  wrote  to  me 
from  Bournemouth  in  March  last.  They  have 
travelled  more  than  we  have,  I  think,  having 
visited  almost  all  the  countries  bordering  the 
Mediterranean  and  Black  Seas,  posted  through 
the  Crimea,  and  steamed  up  the  Danube  !  I 
am  much  gratified  to  learn  that  I  have  been 
elected  a  member  of  the  Eoyal  Yacht  Squadron 
during  my  absence. 

Yesterday   morning   I    called    upon    the   in- 
spector, Mr.  Olrik,  who  has  been  home  to  Den- 


344  STAY  AT  GODHAVN.  Chap.  XVII. 

mark  since  I  saw  him  last  spring.  In  the 
autumn  he  took  Mrs.  Olrik  and  his  family  to 
Copenhagen,  and  has  but  just  returned  alone. 
He  received  me  with  his  usual  kindness,  and 
promised  me  such  supplies  as  we  require.  It 
so  happens  that  none  of  my  expected  business 
letters  have  arrived,  so  that  I  am  not  accredited 
in  the  slightest  degree,  nor  is  there  any  hint 
thrown  out  as  to  where  I  am  to  take  the  '  Fox.' 
Mr.  Olrik  gave  me  a  large  bundle  of  the  '  Illus- 
trated London  News/  which  was  exceedingly 
acceptable,  and  told  us  that  Austria  was  at  war 
with  France  and  Sardinia.  By  the  latest  news 
a  battle  had  been  fought  and  won  by  the  latter 
Powers.  Most  fortunately  a  'Navy  List'  had 
come  out  to  Hobson,  otherwise  I  think  we 
should  have  been  utterly  brokenhearted.  We 
study  its  pages  daily,  and  delight  in  noticing  the 
advancement  of  our  many  friends. 

1st  Sept.,  Thursday  night. — At  sea,  on  the  pas- 
sage, and  already  enjoying,  by  anticipation,  the 
pleasures  of  home  !  Five  busy  days  were  spent 
in  Grodhavn,  supplying  our  little  wants,  in  as 
far  as  they  could  be  supplied,  including  100 
gallons  of  light  beer.  The  natives  were  very 
useful,  the  men  bringing  off  water,  stone  ballast, 
and  sand,  and  a  troop  of  Esquimaux  girls  scrub- 
bing the  paintwork  and  the  decks. 


Aug.  1859.  PART  FROM  OUR  ESQUIMAUX  FRIENDS.    S45 

Each  evening  the  men  went  on  shore,  taking 
with  them  a  very  limited  quantity  of  rum-punch 
for  the  ladies,  and  danced  for  several  hours  in  a 
large  store  ;  whilst  the  officers  and  myself  spent 
the  time  with  Mr.  Olrik  or  the  other  Danish 
gentleman — Messrs.  Andersen,  Bulbrue,  and 
Tyner.  Nothing  could  exceed  their  kindness 
to  us,  whilst  their  good  humour  and  their  anec- 
dotes, sometimes  expressed  in  quaint  English, 
greatly  amused  us.  We  shall  always  retain 
very  agreeable  recollections  of  Godhavn  ;  twice 
has  it  been  to  us  an  Arctic  home. 

Mr.  Petersen's  nieces,  the  belles  of  the  place, 
came  on  board  (Miss  Sophia  with  scented  cam- 
bric handkerchief  and  gloves — in  other  respects 
she  adheres  to  the  Esquimaux  costume)  ;  they 
were  pleased  with  the  organ,  although  it  is 
rather  out  of  repair,  and  they  sang  together 
very  sweetly  for  us.  Our  Esquimaux  ship- 
mates, Christian  and  Samuel,  were  discharged, 
and,  by  their  own  request,  their  wages  given 
in  charge  to  Mr.  Olrik  and  Mr.  Bulbrue  ;  they 
seemed  to  understand  the  importance  of  hus- 
banding their  wealth.  Christian  said  he  thought 
it  would  not  be  all  spent  under  three  years. 
First  of  all  he  intended  buying  a  rifle  for  his 
brother,  and  then  some  wood  to  build  a  house 
for  himself. 


346  LEAVE  GODHAVX.  Chap.  XVII. 

I  was  gratified  very  much  when  I  heard  them 
say  that  the  men  had  treated  them  very  well — ■ 
"  all  the  same  as  brothers ;"  and  they  really 
seemed  sorry  to  leave  the  ship  ;  they  would 
come  on  board  and  look  gravely  about  at  every- 
thing as  if  regretting  the  coming  separation. 
Even  our  poor  dogs  seemed  to  think  the  ship 
their  natural  abode ;  although  landed  at  the 
settlement,  they  soon  ran  round  the  harbour  to 
the  point  nearest  to  the  ship,  and  there,  upon 
the  rocks,  spent  the  whole  period  of  our  stay. 

On  Tuesday  night  we  set  off  some  fireworks 
on  shore  to  amuse  the  natives,  for  I  intended 
sailing  next  day,  but  the  wind  prevented  my ' 
doing  so.  The  last  day  was  spent  in  the  inter- 
change of  presents  between  our  Danish  friends 
and  ourselves ;  indeed,  the  sincere  hearty  good 
feeling  which  existed  between  every  individual 
in  the  i  Fox '  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  settle- 
ment was  as  gratifying  as  apparent.  Almost 
the  only  fresh  supplies  obtained  here  were  rock 
cod  and  salmon-trout  from  Disco  fiord.  During 
our  stay- the  weather  was  delightful;  indeed,  it 
was  the  first  really  fine  weather  they  had  expe- 
rienced at  Godhavn  during  the  present  season, 
the  summer  having  been  cold  and  wet. 

10th  Sept.,  Saturday  night. — To-day  we  passed 
to  the  eastward  of  Cape  Farewell,  but  about  100 


Sept.  1859.  VOYAGE  HOME.  347 

miles  to  the  south  of  it.  The  last  iceberg  was 
seen  to-day ;  and  now  we  are  running  along 
swiftly  before  a  pleasant  N.W.  breeze.  Hitherto 
we  have  had  every  variety  of  wind  and  weather, 
from  a  calm  to  a  gale,  but  generally  the  wind 
has  been,  favourable.  The  change  of  tempera- 
ture is  already  very  perceptible. 

Saturday  night,  17th  Sept. — A  week  of  favour- 
able gales  has  brought  us  from  Cape  Farewell 
to  within  400  miles  of  the  Land's  End,  or  about 
1100  miles  of  distance.  But  such  rough  weather 
is  not  pleasant  in  so  small  a  vessel,  however 
much  "like  a  duck"  she  may  be ;  and  our  two 
years'  sojourn  in  the  still  waters  of  the  frozen 
North  has  made  us  very  susceptible  of  the 
change. 


348  CONCLUSION. 


CONCLUSION. 


We  sailed  all  the  way  home  from  Greenland, 
yet  the  '  Fox '  made  the  passage  in  only  nineteen 
days,  arriving  in  the  English  Channel  on  20th 
September;  on  the  evening  of  the  21st  I 
reached  London  (having  landed  at  Portsmouth), 
and  made  known  to  the  Admiralty  the  result 
of  my  voyage. 

On  the  23rd  September  the  'Fox'  was  taken 
into  dock  at  Blackwall ;  and,  through  the  kind- 
ness and  promptitude  of  the  Lords  of  the 
Admiralty,  I  was  enabled  on  the  27th,  when 
the  crew  were  assembled  for  the  last  time,  to 
present  the  Arctic  medal  to  such  of  my  com- 
panions as  had  not  already  received  it  for  pre- 
vious Arctic  service,  and  also  to  inform  Lieu- 
tenant Hobson  that  his  promotion  to  the  rank 
of  Commander  would  speedily  take  place. 

I  will  not  intrude  upon  the  reader,  who  has 
followed  me  through  the  pages  of  this  simple 
narrative,  any  description  of  my  feelings  on 
finding  the  enthusiasm  with  which  we  were 
all  received  on  landing  upon  our  native  shores. 


CONCLUSION.  349 

The  blessing  of  Providence  had  attended  our 
efforts,  and  more  than  a  full  measure  of  ap- 
proval from  our  friends  and  countrymen  has 
been  our  reward.  For  myself  the  testimonial 
given  me  by  the  officers  and  crew  of  the  { Fox  ' 
has  touched  me  perhaps  more  than  all.  The 
purchase  of  a  gold  chronometer,  for  presentation 
to  me,  was  the  first  use  the  men  made  of  their 
earnings ;  and  as  long  as  I  live  it  will  remind 
me  of  that  perfect  harmony,  that  mutual  esteem 
and  goodwill,  which  made  our  ship's  company 
a  happy  little  community,  and  contributed  ma- 
terially to  the  success  of  the  expedition. 

The  names  I  have  given  to  my  discoveries 
are,  with  the  exception  of  those  by  which  I  have 
endeavoured  to  honour  the  members  of  the  lost 
expedition,  the  names  of  active  supporters  of 
the  recent  search,  and  friends  of  Franklin  and 
his  companions,  though  such  names  are  far 
from  exhausting  the  number  of  those  who  have 
the  highest  claims  to  distinction  on  both 
grounds. 

It  will  be  observed  that  I  have  refrained  from 
repeating  names  which  have  already  been  com- 
memorated by  preceding  commanders,  and 
which  therefore  are  already  in  our  charts. 
Besides  the  individuals  already  mentioned  in 
the  narrative,  Sir  Thomas  D.  Acland,  one  of 


350  CONCLUSION. 

the  most  zealous  promoters  of  the  search,  both 
in  and  out  of  the  House  of  Commons  ;  Monsieur 
De  la  Roquette,  Vice-President  of  the  Geo- 
graphical Society  of  Paris,  and  author  of  an 
interesting  biography  of  Franklin  ;  Rear- 
Admiral  Fitzroy ;  and  Major-General  Pasley, 
R.E.,  stand  high  amongst  those  whom  it  has 
been  my  privilege  to  honour. 

Although  much  talent  has  been  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  deciphering  of  the  letters  found 
in  a  pocketbook  near  Cape  Herschel  (page  274 
ante),  yet,  from  their  being  so  very  much  de- 
faced by  time,  only  a  few  detached  sentences 
have  been  made  out,  and  these  do  not  in  the 
slightest  degree  refer  to  the  proceedings  of  the 
lost  expedition. 

It  will  be  seen  that  I  have  noticed  (page  288) 
the  discrepancy  between  the  number  of  souls 
accounted  for  by  the  Point  Victory  Record,  and 
the  generally  received  opinion  that  138  indi- 
viduals sailed  in  the  '  Erebus '  and  '  Terror.' 

I  am  now  enabled  to  state,  on  the  authority 
of  the  Admiralty,  that  only  one  hundred  and 
thirty-four  individuals  left  the  United  Kingdom, 
and  of  these  five  men  subsequently  returned : 
one  by  H.M.S.  'Rattler,'  and  four  by  the  trans- 
port '  Barretto  Junior ;'  so  that  only  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-nine' — the  exact  number  men- 


CONCLUSION.  351 

tioned  in  the  record — actually  entered  the  ice. 
The  five  invalids  were — 

From  H.M.S.  '  Terror,'  John  Brown,  Able  Seaman. 

„  Eobert  Carr,  Armourer. 

„  James  Elliot,  Sailmaker. 

„  William  Aitken,  Marine. 

From  H.M.S. '  Erebus,'  Thomas  Birt,  Armourer. 

The  relics  we  have  brought  home  have  been 
deposited  by  the  Admiralty  in  the  United 
Service  Institution,  and  now  form  a  national 
memento — the  most  simple  and  most  touching — 
of  those  heroic  men  who  perished  in  the  path 
of  duty,  but  not  until  they  had  achieved  the 
grand  object  of  their  voyage, — the  Discovery  of 
the  North  -  West  Passage, 

London,  2Uh  Nov.  1859. 


APPENDIX, 


No.  I. 

A  LETTER  TO  VISCOUNT  PALMERSTON,  K.G.,  &c, 
FROM  LADY  FRANKLIN. 

MY  LORD,  60>  Pal1  Mall>  December  2,  1856. 

I  trust  I  may  be  permitted,  as  the  widow  of 
Sir  John  Franklin,  to  draw  the  attention  of  Her 
Majesty's  Government  to  the  unsettled  state  of  a 
question  which  a  few  months  ago  was  under  their  con- 
sideration, and  to  express  a  well-grounded  hope  that 
a  final  effort  may  be  made  to  ascertain  the  fate  and 
recover  the  remains  of  my  husband's  expedition. 

Your  Lordship  will  allow  me  to  remind  you  that  a 
Memorial*  with  this  object  in  view  (of  which  I  enclose 
a  printed  copy)  was  early  in  June  last  presented  to,  and 
kindly  received  by  you.  It  had  been  signed  within 
forty- eight  hours  by  all  the  leading  men  of  science  then 
in  London  who  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  it,  and 
might  have  received  an  indefinite  augmentation  of 
worthy  names  had  not  the  urgency  of  the  question  for- 
bidden delay.  To  the  above  names  were  appended 
those  of  the  Arctic  officers  who  had  been  personally 
engaged  in  the  search,  and  who,  though  absent,  were 
known  to  be  favourable  to  another  effort  for  its  com- 
pletion. And  though  that  united  application  obtained 
no  immediate  result,  it  was  felt,  and  by  no  one  more 
strongly  than  myself,  that  it  never  could  be  utterly 
wasted. 


*  See  Appendix  II. 


No.  I.  APPENDIX.  353 

I  venture  also  to  allude  to  a  letter  of  my  own 
addressed  to  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Admiralty 
in  April  last,  and  a  copy  of  which  accompanied,  I 
believe,  the  Memorial  to  your  Lordship,  wherein  I 
earnestly  deprecated  any  premature  adjudication  of  the 
reward  claimed  by  Dr.  Eae,  on  the  ground  that  the  fate 
of  my  husband's  expedition  was  not  yet  ascertained,  and 
that  it  was,  due  both  to  the  living  and  the  dead  to  com- 
plete a  search  which  had  been  hitherto  pursued  under 
the  greatest  disadvantage,  for  want  of  the  clue  which 
was  now  for  the  first  time  in  our  hands. 

The  Memorial  above  alluded  to,  and  my  own  letter 
of  earlier  date,  had  not  yet  received  any  reply,  when, 
in  the  month  of  July,  the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty 
caused  prompt  inquiries  to  be  made  as  to  the  possibility 
of  equipping  a  ship  at  that  advanced  season,  in  time  for 
effective  operations  in  the  field  of  search.  The  result 
was  that  it  was  pronounced  to  be  too  late,  and  the  sub- 
ject was  dismissed  for  that  season.  • 

Upon  this  I  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Board  (of  which 
I  take  the  liberty  to  enclose  a  copy),  respectfully  show- 
ing that  by  this  unfortunate  delay  the  opportunity  had 
also  been  taken  from  me  of  sending  out  a  vessel  at  my 
own  cost,  a  measure  which  I  had  previously  felt  myself 
obliged  to  state  to  their  Lordships  would  be  the  alter- 
native of  any  adverse  decision  on  their  part.  I  pleaded 
therefore,  as  the  only  remedy  for  the  loss  of  an  entire 
summer  season,  that  the  route  by  Behring  Straits  was 
by  some  of  the  most  competent  Arctic  officers  considered 
preferable  to  the  eastern  route,  and  that  the  equipment 
of  a  vessel  for  this  direction  need  not  take  place  before 
the  close  of  the  year. 

In  reply,  their  Lordships  caused  me  to  be  informed 
that  "  they  had  come  to  the  decision  not  to  send  any 
expedition  to  the  Arctic  regions  in  the  present  year." 

This  communication,  however,  was  in  answer  merely 
to  my  own  letter.    The  Memorialists  had  as  yet  received 

2    A 


354  APPENDIX.  No.  I. 

no  reply,  and  accordingly  the  President  of  the  Koyal 
Society  put  a  question  respecting  the  Memorial  in  the 
House  of  Lords  at  the  close  of  the  session,  which  drew 
from  one  of  Her  Majesty's  Ministers  (Lord  Stanley), 
after  some  preliminary  observations,  the  assurance  that 
Her  Majesty's  Government  would  give  the  subject  their 
serious  consideration  during  the  recess.  I  may  be  per- 
mitted to  add,  that,  in  the  conversation  which  followed, 
Lord  Stanley  expressed  himself  as  very  favourably 
disposed  towards  a  proposition  made  to  him  by  Lord 
Wrottesley,  that,  in  the  event  of  there  being  no 
Government  expedition,  I  should  be  assisted  in  fitting 
out  my  own  expedition  ;  an  assurance  which  Lord 
Wrottesley  had  the  kindness  to  communicate  to  me 
by  letter. 

But,  my  Lord,  as  nothing  has  occurred  within  the 
last  few  months  to  weaken  the  reasons  which  induced 
the  Admiralty,  early  in  July  last,  to  contemplate 
another  final  effort,  and  as  they  put  it  aside  at  that 
time  on  the  sole  ground  that  it  was  too  late  to  equip 
a  vessel  for  that  season,  I  trust  it  will  be  felt  that  I 
am  not  endeavouring  to  re-open  a  closed  question, 
but  merely  to  obtain  the  settlement  of  one  which  has 
not  ceased  to  be,  and  is  even  now,  under  favourable 
consideration.  The  time  has  arrived,  however,  when 
I  trust  I  may  be  pardoned  for  pressing  your  Lordship, 
with  whom  I  believe  the  question  rests,  for  a  decision, 
since  by  further  delay  even  my  own  efforts  may  be 
paralysed. 

I  have  cherished  the  hope,  in  common  with  otherss 
that  we  are  not  waiting  in  vain.  Should,  however,  that 
decision  unfortunately  throw  upon  me  the  responsibility 
and  the  cost  of  sending  out  a  vessel  myself,  I  beg  to 
assure  your  Lordship  that  I  shall  not  shrink,  either 
from  that  weighty  responsibility,  or  from  the  sacrifice 
of  my  entire  available  fortune  for  the  purpose,  sup- 
ported as  I  am  in  my  convictions  by  such  high  autho- 


No.  I.  APPENDIX.  355 

rities  as  those  whose  opinions  are  on  record  in  your 
Lordship's  hands,  and  by  the  hearty  sympathy  of  many 
more. 

But  before  I  take  upon  myself  so  heavy  an  obliga- 
tion, it  is  my  bounden  duty  to  entreat  Her  Majesty's 
Government  not  to  disregard  the  arguments  which 
have  led  so  many  competent  and  honourable  men  to 
feel  that  our  country's  honour  is  not  satisfied,  whilst  a 
mystery  which  has  excited  the  sympathy  of  the  civilised 
world  remains  uncleared.  Nor  less  would  I  entreat  you 
to  consider  what  must  be  the  unsatisfactory  conse- 
quences, if  any  endeavours  should  be  made  to  quench 
all  further  efforts  for  this  object. 

It  cannot  be  that  this  long-vexed  question  would 
thereby  be  set  at  rest,  for  it  would  still  be  true  that  in 
a  certain  circumscribed  area  within  the  Arctic  circle, 
approachable  alike  from  the  east  and  from  the  west, 
and  sure  to  be  attained  by  a  combination  of  both  move- 
ments, lies  the  solution  of  our  unhappy  countrymen's 
fate.  While  such  is  the  case,  the  question  will  never 
die.  I  believe  that  again  and  again  would  efforts  be 
made  to  reach  that  spot,  and  that  the  Government 
could  not  look  on  as  unconcerned  spectators,  nor  be 
relieved  in  public  opinion  of  the  responsibility  they  had 
prematurely  cast  off. 

But  I  refrain  from  pursuing  this  argument,  though, 
if  any  illustration  were  wanting  of  its  truth,  I  think  it 
might  be  found  in  the  events  that  are  passing  before 
our  eyes. 

It  is  now  about  two  years  ago  that  one  of  Her 
Majesty's  Arctic  ships  was  abandoned  in  the  ice.  In 
due  time  this  ship  floated  away,  was  picked  up  by  an 
American  whaler,  carried  into  an  American  port,  and 
(all  property  in  her  having  been  relinquished  by  the 
Admiralty)  was  purchased  of  her  rescuers  by  the 
American  Government,  by  whom  she  has  been  lavishly 
re-equipped,  and  is  now  on  her  passage  to  England,  a 

2  A   2 


356  APPENDIX.  No.  1. 

free  gift  to  the  Queen.  The  '  Eesolute '  is  about  to  be 
delivered  up  in  Portsmouth  harbour,  not  merely  in 
evidence  of  the  cordial  relation  existing  between  the 
two  countries,  but  as  a  lively  token  of  the  deep  interest 
and  sympathy  of  the  Americans  in  that  great  cause  of 
humanity  in  which  they  have  so  nobly  borne  their  part. 
The  resolution  of  Congress  expressly  states  this  motive, 
and  indeed  there  could  be  no  other,  as  it  is  well  known 
that  for  any  purpose  but  the  Arctic  service  those  ex- 
pensive equipments  would  be  perfectly  useless  and 
require  removal. 

My  Lord,  you  will  not  let  this  rescued  and  restored 
ship,  emblematic  of  so  many  enlightened  and  generous 
sentiments,  fail,  even  partially,  in  her  significant  mission. 
I  venture  to  hope  that  she  will  be  accepted  in  the  spirit 
in  which  she  is  sent.  I  humbly  trust  that  the  American 
people,  and  especially  that  philanthropic  citizen  who 
has  spent  so  largely  of  his  private  fortune  in  the  search 
for  the  lost  ships,  and  to  whom  was  committed  by  his 
Government  the  entire  charge  of  the  equipment  of  the 
'Eesolute,'  will  be  rewarded  for  this  signal  act  of 
sympathy,  by  seeing  her  restored  to  her  original  voca- 
tion, so  that  she  may  bring  back  from  the  Arctic  seas, 
if  not  some  living  remnant  of  our  long-lost  countrymen, 
yet  at  least  the  proofs  that  they  have  nobly  perished. 

I  need  not  add  that  we  have  as  yet  no  proofs,  what- 
ever may  be  our  melancholy  forebodings.  That  such  is 
the  fact,  in  a  legal  point  of  view,  is  shown  by  a  case 
now  or  lately  pending  in  the  Scotch  Courts,  in  which 
the  right  of  succession  to  a  considerable  property  is  not 
admitted,  on  account  of  the  absence  of  all  but  conjec- 
tural testimony.  In  this  aspect  of  the  question  I  have 
no  personal  interest,  but  it  is  one  that  may  not  be 
deemed  unworthy  of  your  Lordship's  attention,  com- 
bined as  it  must  be  with  the  fact  that  our  most  ex- 
perienced Arctic  officers  are  willing  to  stake  their 
reputation   upon   the  feasibility    of  reaching   the   spot 


Xo.  I.  APPENDIX.  357 

where  so  many  secrets  lie  buried,  if  only  they  are  sup- 
plied with  the  adequate  means.  . 

It  would  be  a  waste  of  words  to  attempt  to  refute 
again  the  main  objections  that  have  been  urged  against 
a  renewed  search,  as  involving  extraordinary  danger 
and  risking  life.  The  safe  return  of  our  officers  and 
men  cannot  be  denied,  neither  will  it  be  disputed  that 
each  succeeding  year  diminishes  the  risk  of  casualty ; 
and  indeed,  I  feel  it  would  be  especially  superfluous  and 
unseasonable  to  argue  against  this  particular  objection, 
or  against  the  financial  one  which  generally  accom- 
panies it,  at  a  moment  when  new  expeditions  for  the 
glorious  interests  of  science,  and  which  every  true  lover 
of  science  and  of  his  country  must  rejoice  in,  are  con- 
templated for  the  interior  of  Africa  and  other  parts 
which  are  far  less  favourable  to  human  life  than  the  icy 
regions  of  the  north. 

But  with  respect  to  expenditure,  I  may  perhaps  be 
allowed,  as  I  have  alluded  to  that  topic,  again  to  call  to 
your  Lordship's  attention  that  the  '  Kesolute '  is  ready 
equipped  for  Arctic  service  by  the  munificence  of 
another  nation,  and  to  add  that  other  Arctic  ships, 
equally  well  fitted  for  the  purpose,  are  lying  useless 
in  Her  Majesty's  dockyards,  along  with  accumulated 
Arctic  stores  brought  back  by  the  late  expeditions, 
and  therefore  long  since  included  in  the  navy  estimates ; 
and  which,  besides,  are  available  only  for  Arctic  service, 
and,  if  sold,  would  be  bought  at  only  nominal  prices. 
In  addition  to  the  above  sources  of  supply  are  those 
already  existing  on  the  Arctic  shores,  which  are  now 
studded  with  depots  of  provisions  and  fuel,  left  from 
the  last  and  former  expeditions,  and  fit  as  ever  for  use, 
because  of  the  conservative  properties  of  the  climate. 

But  even  were  the  expenditure  greater  than  can  thus 
reasonably  be  expected,  I  submit  to  your  Lordship  that 
this  is  a  case  of  no  ordinary  exigency.  These  135  men 
of  the    '  Erebus '    and    '  Terror '    (or   perhaps  I  should 


358  APPENDIX.  No.  I. 

rather  say  the  greater  part  of  them,  since  we  do  not  yet 
know  that  there  are  no  survivors)  have  laid  down  their 
lives,  after  sufferings  doubtless  of  unexampled  severity, 
in  the  service  of  their  country,  as  truly  as  if  they  had 
perished  by  the  rifle,  the  cannon-ball,  or  the  bayonet. 
Nay  more, — by  attaining  the  northern  and  already- 
surveyed  coast  of  America,  it  is  clear  that  they  solved 
the  problem  which  was  the  object  of  their  labours,  or, 
in  the  beautiful  words  of  Sir  John  Eichardson,  that 
"  they  forged  the  last  link  of  the  North-West  passage 
with  then  lives." 

Surely,  then,  I  may  plead  for  such  men,  that  a  care- 
ful search  be  made  for  any  possible  survivor,  that  the 
bones  of  the  dead  be  sought  for  and  gathered  together, 
that  their  buried  records  be  unearthed,  or  recovered 
from  the  hands  of  the  Esquimaux,  and  above  all,  that 
their  last  written  words,  so  precious  to  their  bereaved 
families  and  friends,  be  saved  from  destruction.  A 
mission  so  sacred  is  worthy  of  a  Government  which  has 
grudged  and  spared  nothing  for  its  heroic  soldiers  and 
sailors  in  other  fields  of  warfare,  and  will  surely  be 
approved  by  our  gracious  Queen,  who  overlooks  none  of 
Her  loyal  subjects  suffering  and  dying  for  their  country's 
honour. 

This  final  and  exhausting  search  is  all  I  seek  in  be- 
half of  the  first  and  only  martyrs  to  Arctic  discovery  in 
modern  times,  and  it  is  all  I  ever  intend  to  ask. 

But  if,  notwithstanding  all  I  have  presumed  to  urge, 
Her  Majesty's  Government  decline  to  complete  the 
work  they  have  carried  on  up  to  this  critical  moment, 
but  leave  it  to  private  hands  to  finish,  I  must  then 
respectfully  request  that  measure  of  assistance  in  behalf 
of  my  own  expedition  which  I  have  been  led  to  expect 
on  the  authority  of  Lord  Stanley,  as  communicated  to 
me  by  Lord  Wrottesley,  and  on  that  of  the  First  Lord 
of  the  Admiralty,  as  communicated  to  Colonel  Phipps 
in  a  letter  in  my  possession. 


No.  I.  APPENDIX.  359 

It  is  with  no  desire  to  avert  from  myself  the  sacrifice 
of  my  own  funds,  which  I  devote  without  reserve  to  the 
object  in  view,  that  I  plead  for  a  liberal  interpretation  of 
those  communications,  but  I  owe  it  to  the  conscientious 
and  high-minded  Arctic  officers  who  have  generously 
offered  me  their  services,  that  my  expedition  should  be 
made  as  efficient  as  possible,  however  restricted  it  may 
be  in  extent.  The  Admiralty,  I  feel  sure,  will  not  deny 
me  what  may  be  necessary  for  this  purpose,  since,  if  I 
do  all  I  can  with  my  own  means,  any  deficiencies  and 
shortcomings  of  a  private  expedition  cannot  I  think  be 
justly  laid  to  my  charge. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  earnestly  entreat  of  Her 
Majesty's  Government,  while  this  subject  is  still  under 
deliberation,  that  they  would  be  pleased  to  obtain  the 
opinions  of  those  persons  who,  in  consequence  of  their 
practical  knowledge  and  vast  experience,  may  be  con- 
sidered best  qualified  to  express  them  in  the  present 
emergency.  And  as  it  must  be  in  the  ranks  of  those 
officers  who  would  naturally  be  selected  for  command 
of  any  final  expedition  that  these  qualifications  will 
most  assuredly  be  found,  I  trust  I  may  be  pardoned  for 
directing  your  Lordship's  attention  to  the  names  (which 
I  put  down  in  the  order  of  their  seniority)  of  Captains 
Collinson,  Eichards,  McClintock,  Maguire,  and  Osborn. 
All  these  officers  have  passed  winter  after  winter  in 
Arctic  service,  have  carried  out  those  skilful  sledge 
operations  which  have  added  so  much  to  our  knowledge 
of  Arctic  Geography,  and  have  ever,  in  the  exercise  of 
combined  courage  and  discretion,  avoided  disaster,  and 
brought  home  their  crews  in  health  and  safety. 

I  commit  the  prayer  of  this  letter,  for  the  length  of 
which  I  beg  much  to  apologize,  to  your  Lordship's 
patient  and  kind  consideration,  feeling  assured  that, 
however  the  burden  of  it  may  pall  upon  the  ear  of 
some,  who  apparently  judge  of  it  neither  by  the  heart 
nor  by  the  head,  you  will  not  on  that,  or  on  any  light 


360  APPENDIX.  No.  I. 

ground,  hastily  dismiss  it.  Kather  may  you  be  impelled 
to  feel  that  the  shortest  and  surest  way  to  set  the  im- 
portunate question  at  rest,  is  to  submit  it  to  that  final 
investigation  which  will  satisfy  the  yearnings  of  sur- 
viving relatives  and  friends,  and,  what  is  justly  of  higher 
import  to  your  Lordship,  the  credit  and  honour  of  the 
country. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  &c, 

Jane  Feankltn. 

The  Eight  Hon.  Viscount  Palmerston,  K.G. 


No.  II.  APPENDIX.  3(31 


No.  II. 

MEMORIAL  TO  THE  RIGHT  HON.  VISCOUNT 
PALMERSTON,  M.P.,  G.C.B. 

London,  June  5th,  1856. 

Impeessed  with  the  belief  that  Her  Majesty's  miss- 
ing ships,  the  ' Erebus'  and  'Terror,'  or  their  re- 
mains, are  still  frozen  up  at  no  great  distance  from 
the  spot  whence  certain  relics  of  Sir  John  Franklin  and 
his  crews  were  obtained  by  Dr.  Eae, — we  whose  names 
are  undersigned,  whether  men  of  science-  and  others 
who  have  taken  a  deep  interest  in  Arctic  discovery,  or 
explorers  who  have  been  employed  in  the  search  for 
our  lost  countrymen,  beg  earnestly  to  impress  upon 
your  Lordship  the  desirableness  of  sending  out  an  Ex- 
pedition to  satisfy  the  honour  of  our  country,  and  clear 
up  a  mystery  which  has  excited  the  sympathy  of  the 
civilised  world. 

This  request  is  supported  by  many  persons  well  versed 
in  Arctic  surveys,  who,  seeing  that  the  proposed  Expedi- 
tion is  to  be  directed  to  one  limited  area  only,  are  of  opinion 
that  the  object  is  attainable,  and  with  little  risk. 

We  can  scarcely  believe  that  the  British  Govern- 
ment, which  to  its  great  credit  has  made  so  many  efforts 
in  various  directions  to  discover  even  the  route  pursued 
by  Franklin,  should  cease  to  prosecute  research,  now 
that  the  locality  has  been  clearly  indicated  where  the 
vessels  or  their  remains  must  lie, — including,  as  we 
hope,  records  which  will  throw  fresh  light  on  Arctic 
geography,  and  dispel  the  obscurity  in  which  the 
voyage  and  fate  of  our  countrymen  are  still  involved. 

Although  most  persons  have  arrived  at  the  con- 
clusion that  there  can  now  be  no  survivors  of  Franklin's 
Expedition,  yet  there  are  eminent  men  in  our  own 
country  and  in  America  who  hold  a  contrary  opinion. 
Dr.  Kane,  of  the  United  States,  for  example,  who  has 


362  APPENDIX.  No.  II. 

distinguished  himself  by  pushing  farther  to  the  north  in 
search  of  Franklin  than  any  other  individual,  and  to 
whom  the  Koyal  Geographical  Society  has  recently 
awarded  its  Founders'  Gold  Medal,  thus  speaks  (in  a 
letter  to  the  benevolent  Mr.  Grinnell)  : — "  I  am  really 
in  doubt  as  to  the  preservation  of  human  life.  I  well 
know  how  glad  I  would  have  been,  had  my  duty  to 
others  permitted  me,  to  have  taken  refuge  among  the 
Esquimaux  of  Smith  Strait  and  Etah  Bay.  Strange  as 
it  may  seem  to  you,  we  regarded  the  coarse  life  of  these 
people  with  eyes  of  envy,  and  did  not  doubt  but  that 
we  could  have  lived  in  comfort  upon  their  resources. 
It  required  all  my  powers,  moral  and  physical,  to 
prevent  my  men  from  deserting  to  the  Walrus  Settle- 
ments, and  it  was  my  final  intention  to  have  taken  to 
Esquimaux  life  had  Providence  not  carried  us  through 
in  our  hazardous  escape." 

But  passing  from  speculation,  and  confining  ourselves 
alone  to  the  question  of  finding  the  missing  ships  or 
their  records,  we  would  observe  that  no  land  Expedition 
down  the  Back  Kiver,  like  that  which,  with  great  diffi- 
culty, recently  reached  Montreal  Island,  can  satis- 
factorily accomplish  the  end  we  have  in  view.  The 
frail  birch-bark  canoes  in  which  Mr.  Anderson  conducted 
his  search  with  so  much  ability,  the  dangers  of  the  river, 
the  sterile  nature  of  the  tract  near  its  embouchure,  and 
the  necessary  failure  of  provisions,  prevented  the  com- 
mencement, even,  of  such  a  search  as  can  alone  be 
satisfactorily  and  thoroughly  accomplished  by  the  crew 
of  a  man-of-war, — to  say  nothing  of  the  moral  influence 
of  a  strong  armed  party  remaiDing  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
spot  until  the  confidence  of  the  natives  be  obtained. 

Many  Arctic  explorers,  independent  of  those  whose 
names  are  appended,  and  who  are  absent  on  service, 
have  expressed  their  belief  that  there  are  several  routes 
by  which  a  screw-vessel  could  so  closely  approach  the 
area  in  question  as  to  clear  up  all  doubt. 


No.  II.  APPENDIX.  363 

In  respect  to  one  of  these  courses,  or  that  by  Behring 
Strait,  along  the  coast  of  North  America,  we  know  that 
a  single  sailing  vessel  passed  to  Cambridge  Bay,  within 
150  miles  of  the  mouth  of  the  Back  Kiver,  and  returned 
home  unscathed, — its  commander  having  expressed  his 
conviction  that  the  passage  in  question  is  so  constantly 
open  that  ships  can  navigate  it  without  difficulty  in  one 
season.  Other  routes,  whether  by  Kegent  Inlet,  Peel 
Sound,  or  across  from  Bepulse  Bay,  are  preferred  by 
officers  whose  experience  in  Arctic  matters  entitles  them 
to  every  consideration ;  whilst  in  reference  to  two  of 
these  routes  it  is  right  to  state  that  vast  quantities  of 
provisions  have  been  left  in  their  vicinity. 

Without  venturing  to  suggest  which  of  these  plans 
should  be  adopted,  we  earnestly  beg  your  Lordship  to 
sanction  without  delay  such  an  expedition  as,  in  the 
judgment  of  a  Committee  of  Arctic  Yoyagers  and  Geo- 
graphers, may  be  considered  best  adapted  to  secure  the 
object. 

We  would  ask  your  Lordship  to  reflect  upon  the 
great  difference  between  a  clearly-defined  voyage  to  a 
narrow  and  circumscribed  area,  within  which  the  missing 
vessels  or  their  remains  must  lie,  and  those  formerly 
necessarily  tentative  explorations  in  various  directions, 
the  frequent  allusions  to  the  difficulty  of  which,  in 
regions  far  to  the  north  of  the  voyage  now  contemplated, 
have  led  persons  unacquainted  with  geography  to  sup- 
pose that  such  a  modified  and  limited  attempt  as  that 
which  we  propose  involves  farther  risk  and  may  call 
for  future  researches.  The  very  nature  of  the  former 
expeditions  exposed  them,  it  is  true,  to  risk,  since 
regions  had  to  be  traversed  which  were  totally  un- 
known ;  while  the  search  we  ask  for  is  to  be  directed 
to  a  circumscribed  area,  the  confines  of  which  have 
already  been  reached  without  difficulty  by  one  of  Her 
Majesty's  vessels. 

Now,  inasmuch  as   France,  after    repeated  fruitless 


<m 


APPENDIX'. 


No.  II. 


efforts  to  ascertain  the  fate  of  La  Perouse,  no  sooner 
heard  of  the  discovery  of  some  relics  of  that  eminent 
navigator,  than  she  sent  out  a  Searching  Expedition  to 
collect  every  fragment  pertaining  to  his  vessels,  so  we 
trust  that  those  Arctic  researches  which  have  reflected 
much  honour  upon  our  country  may  not  be  abandoned 
at  the  very  moment  when  an  explanation  of  the  wander- 
ings and  fate  of  our  lost  navigators  seems  to  be  within 
our  grasp. 

In  conclusion,  we  further  earnestly  pray  that  it  may 
not  be  left  to  the  efforts  of  individuals  of  another  and 
kindred  nation  already  so  distinguished  in  this  cause, 
nor  yet  to  the  noble-minded  widow  of  our  lamented 
friend,  to  make  an  endeavour  which  can  be  so  much 
more  effectively  carried  out  by  the  British  Government. 

We  have  the  honour  to  be,  &c, 


F.  Beaufoet, 

E.  I.  Muechison, 

F.  W.  Beechey, 
Wkottesley, 
E.  Sabine, 

Egeeton  Ellesmeee, 
W.  Whewell, 

R  COLLINSON, 

W.  H.  Sykes, 

C.  Daubeny, 

J.  Feegus, 

P.  E.  de  Stzeelecki, 

W.  H.  Smyth, 

A.  Majendie, 

K.  Fitzeoy, 

E.  Gabdinee  Fishbouene, 

K.  Beown, 

G.  Macabtney, 


L.  HOENEE, 
W.  H.  FlTTON, 

Lyon  Playfaie, 

T.  Thoep, 

C.  Wheatstone, 

W.  J.  HOOKEE, 
J.  D.  HOOKEE, 

J.  Aeeowsmith, 
P.  La  Teobe, 
W.  A.  B.  Hamilton, 
K.  Stephenson, 

J.  E.  POETLOCK, 

C.  Piazzi  Smyth, 
C.  W.  Pasley, 
G.  Kennie, 
J.  P.  Gassiot, 
G.  B.  Aiey, 

J.  F.  BUEGOYNE. 


No.  II. 


APPENDIX. 


365 


The  following  officers  of  the  Koyal  Navy,  who  have 
been  employed  in  the  search  after  Franklin,  and  who 
are  now  absent  from  London,  have  previously  expressed 
themselves  to  be  favourable  to  the  final  expedition  above 
recommended : — 


Captains   Sir    James   C. 

Boss*,  and  Sir  Edward 

Belcher ; 
Commodore  Kellett  ; 
Captains  Austin, 

Bird, 

Ommanney, 

Sir  Bobert  M'Clure, 

Sherard  Osborn, 

Inglefield, 


Captains  Maguire, 

M'Clintock,  and 

Bichards ; 
Commanders  Aldricii, 

Mecham, 

Trollope,  and 

Cresswell  ; 
Lieutenants  Hamilton  and 

Pim. 


M6  APPENDIX.  No.  III. 

No.  III. 

LIST  OF  KELICS  OF  THE  FRANKLIN  EXPEDITION 

Brought  to  England  in  the  '  Fox '  by  Captain  M'Clintock. 


Eelics    brought    from   the    boat  found  in  lat.  69°  08'  43" 

N.,  long.  99°  24'  42"  W.,  upon  the  West  Coast  of  King 

William  Island,  May  30,  1859  :— 

Two  double-barrelled  guns,  one  barrel  in  each  is  loaded.  Found 
standing  up  against  the  side  in  the  after  part  of  the  boat. 

A  small  Prayer  Book  ;  cover  of  a  small  book  of  '  Family  Prayers  ;' 
1  Christian  Melodies,'  an  inscription  within  the  cover  to  "  G.  G." 
(Graham  Gore  ?)  ;  *  Vicar  of  Wakefield ;'  a  small  Bible,  interlined  in 
many  places,  and  with  numerous  references  written  in  the  margin  ; 
a  New  Testament  in  the  French  language. 

Two  table  knives  with  white  handles — one  is  marked  "  W.  E. ;" 
a  gimlet ;  an  awl ;  two  iron  stanchions,  9  inches  long,  for  supporting 
a  weather  cloth,  which  was  round  the  boat. 

26  pieces  of  silver  plate — 11  spoons,  11  forks,  and  4  teaspoons ; 
3  pieces  of  thin  elmboard  (tingles)  for  repairing  the  boat,  and 
measuring  11  inches  by  6  inches,  and  3-10ths  inch  thick. 

Piece  of  canvas  : — Bristles  for  shoemaker's  use,  bullets,  short  clay 
pipe,  roll  of  waxed  twine,  a  wooden  button,  small  piece  of  a  port-fire, 
two  charges  of  shot  tied  up  in  the  finger  of  a  kid  glove,  fragment  of 
a  seaman's  blue  serge  frock.  Covers  of  a  small  Testament  and  Prayer 
Book,  part  of  a  grass  cigar-case,  fragment  of  a  silk  handkerchief, 
thread-case,  piece  of  scented  soap,  three  shot  charges  in  kid  glove 
fingers,  a  belted  bullet,  a  piece  of  silk  pocket  handkerchief.  Two 
pairs  of  goggles,  made  of  stout  leather  and  wire  gauze,  instead  of 
glass ;  a  sailmaker's  palm,  two  small  brass  pocket  compasses,  a 
snooding  line  rolled  up  on  a  piece  of  leather,  a  needle  and  thread 
case,  a  bayonet  scabbard  altered  into  a  sheath  for  a  knife,  tin  water 
bottle  for  the  pocket,  two  shot  pouches  (full  of  shot). 

Three  spring  hooks  of  sword  belts,  a  gold  lace  band,  a  piece  of 
thin  gold  twist  or  cord,  a  pair  of  leather  goggles  with  crape  instead 
of  glass  ;  a  small  green  crape  veil. 

Two  small  packets  of  blank  cartridge  in  green  paper,  part  of  a 
cherry-stick  pipe  stem,  piece  of  a  port-fire,  a  few  copper  nails,  a 
leather  bootlace,  a  seaman's  clasp-knife,  two  small  glass  stoppered 
bottles  (full),  three  glasses  of  spectacles,  part  of  a  broken  pair  of 
silver  spectacles,  German  silver  pencil-case,  a  pair  of  silver  (?) 
forceps,  such  as  a  naturalist  might  use  for  holding  or  seizing  small 
insects,  &c. ;  a  small  pair  of  scissors  rolled  up  in  blank  paper,  and 


No.  III.  APPENDIX.  367 

to  which  adheres  a  printed  Government  paper,  such  as  an  officer's 
warrant  or  appointment;  a  spring  hook  of  a  sword  belt,  a  brass 

F  charger  for  holding  two  charges  of  shot. 

A  small  bead  purse,  piece  of  red  sealing-wax,  stopper  of  a  pocket 
flask,  German  silver  top  and  ring,  brass  matchbox,  one  of  the  glasses 
of  a  telescope,  a  small  tin  cylinder,  probably  made  to  hold  lucifer 
matches ;  a  linen  bag  of  percussion  caps  of  three  sizes,  a  very  large 
and  old-fashioned  kind,  stamped  "Smith's  patent;"  a  cap  with  a 
flange  similar  to  the  present  musket  caps  used  by  Government,  but 
smaller ;  and  ordinary  sporting  caps  of  the  smallest  size. 

Five  watches. 

A  pair  of  blue  glass  spectacles,  or  goggles,  with  steel  frame,  and 
wire  gauze  encircling  the  glasses,  in  a  tin  case. 

A  pemmican  tin,  painted  lead  colour,  and  marked  "  E."  (Erebus) 
in  black.     From  its  size  it  must  have  contained  20  lb.  or  22  lb. 

Two  yellow  glass  beads,  a  glass  seal  with  symbol  of  Freemasonry. 

A  4-inch  block,  strapped,  with  copper  hook  and  thimble,  pro- 
bably for  the  boat's  sheet. 

Eelics  seen  in  lat.  69°  09'  N.,  long.  99°  24'  W.,  not  brought 

away,  30th  of  May,  1859  :— 

A  large  boat,  measuring  28  ft.  in  extreme  length,  7ft.  3  in.  in 
breadth,  2  ft.  4  in.  in  depth.  The  markings  on  her  stem  were 
•—"XXI.  W.  Con.  N61.,  APr.  184."  It  appears  that  the  fore  part 
of  the  stem  has  been  cut  away,  probably  to  reduce  weight,  and 
part  of  the  letters  and  figures  removed.  An  oak  sledge  under  the 
boat,  23  ft.  4  in.  long,  and  2  ft.  wide  ;  6  paddles,  about  60  fathoms 
of  deep-sea  lead  line,  ammunition,  4  cakes  of  navy  chocolate,  shoe- 
maker's box  with  implements  complete,  small  quantities  of  tobacco, 
a  small  pair  of  very  stout  shooting  boots,  a  pair  of  very  heavy 
iron-shod  knee  boots,  carpet  boots,  sea  boots  and  shoes — in  all 
seven  or  eight  pairs  ;  two  rolls  of  sheet  lead,  elm  tingles  for  repair- 
ing the  boat,  nails  of  various  sizes  for  boat,  and  sledge  irons,  three 
small  axes,  a  broken  saw,  leather  cover  of  a  sextant  case,  a  chain- 
cable  punch,  silk  handkerchiefs  (black,  white,  and  coloured), 
towels,  sponge,  tooth-brush,  hair  comb,  a  macintosh,  gun  cover 
(marked  in  paint  "  A.  12  "),  twine,  files,  knives ;  a  small  worsted- 
work  slipper,  lined  with  calfskin,  bound  with  red  riband ;  a  great 
quantity  of  clothing,  and  a  wolfskin  robe  ;  part  of  a  boat's  sail  of 
No.  8  canvas,  whale-line  rope  with  yellow  mark,  and  white  line 
with  red  mark  ;  24  iron  stanchions,  9£  inches  high,  for  supporting 
a  weather  cloth  round  the  boat ;  a  stanchion  for  supporting  a 
ridge  pole  at  a  height  of  3  ft.  9  in.  above  the  gunwale. 

Eelics  found  about  Eoss  Cairn,  on  Point  Victory,  May  and 
June,  1859,  brought  away  : — 
A   6-inch   dip   circle  by   Robinson,    marked  I  22.     A   case   of 


368  APPENDIX.  No.  III. 

medicines,  consisting  of  25  small  bottles,  canister  of  pills,  ointment, 
plaster,  oiled  silk,  &c.  A  2-foot  rule,  two  joints  of  the  cleaning 
rod  of  a  gun,  and  two  small  copper  spindles,  probably  for  dog- vanes 
of  boats.  The  circular  brass  plate  broken  out  of  a  wooden  gun-case, 
and  engraved  "  C.  H.  Osmer,  R.N."  The  field  glass  and  German 
silver  top  of  a  2-foot  telescope,  a  coffee  canister,  a  piece  of  a  brass 
curtain  rod.  The  record  tin  and  the  record,  dated  25th  of  April, 
1848.  A  6-inch  double  frame  sextant,  on  which  the  owner's  name 
is  engraved,  "  Frederick  Hornby,  R.N." 

Found  in  a  small  cairn  on  the  south  side  of  Back  Bay  : — 

A  tin  record  case  and  record. 

Seen  about  Eoss  Cairn,  Point  Victory,  not  brought  away  : — 

Four  sets  of  boat's  cooking  apparatus  complete,  iron  hoops,  4  feet 
of  a  copper  lightning  conductor,  hollow  brass  curtain-rod  three- 
quarters  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  3  pickaxes,  1  shovel,  old  canvas, 
a  pile  of  warm  clothing  and  blankets  4  feet  high,  2  tin  canteens 
stamped  "  89  Co.,  Wm.  Hedges,"  "  88  Co.,  Wm.  Heather,"  and  a 
third  one  not  marked.  A  small  pannikin,  made  on  board  out  of  a 
2  lb.  preserved-meat  tin,  and  marked  "  W.  Mark  ;"  a  small  deal  box 
for  gun  wadding,  the  heavy  iron  work  of  a  large  boat,  part  of  a 
canvas  tent,  part  of  an  oar  sawed  longitudinally  and  a  blanket  nailed 
to  its  flat  side,  three  boat-hook  staves,  strips  of  copper,  a  9-inch 
single  block  strapped,  a  piece  of  rope  and  spunyarn.  Among  the 
clothing  was  found  a  stocking  marked  "  W,"  green,  and  a  fragment 
of  one  marked  "  W.  $." 

Kelics  obtained  at  the  Northern  Cairn,  near  Cape  Felix,  May, 

1859  :— 

Fragments  of  a  boat's  ensign,  metal  lid  of  a  powder-case,  two  eye 
pieces  of  sextant  tubes,  brass  button ;  worsted  glove,  colours  red, 
white,  and  blue  ;  bung-stave  of  a  marine's  water  keg  or  bottle,  brass 
ornaments  to  a  marine's  shako  ;  brass  screw  for  screwing  down  lid, 
also  a  copper  hinge  of  the  lid  of  powder-case ;  a  few  patent  wire 
cartridges  containing  large  shot ;  part  of  a  pair  of  steel  spectacles, 
glass  being  replaced  by  wood,  having  a  narrow  slit  in  it ;  two  small 
rib  bones,  probably  out  of  salt  pork  ;  six  or  eight  packets  of  needles  ; 
small  flannel  cartridge  containing  an  ounce  of  damaged  powder ;  a 
small,  roughly  made  copper  apparatus  for  cooking ;  some  brimstone 
matches.  Piece  of  white  paper  folded  up  found  in  the  North  Cairn, 
two  pike-heads,  narrow  strip  of  white  paper,  found  under  one  of  the 
tent  places ;  their  tent  places  were  within  a  few  yards  of  the  cairn. 

Beside  a  small  cairn,  about  three  miles  north  of  Point  Victory, 
was  a  pickaxe,  with  broken  handle  ;  brought  away  an  empty  tea  or 
coffee  canister. 


No.  III.  APPENDIX.  369 

Articles  noticed  about  the  North  Cairn,  not  brought  away  : — 
Fragments  of  two  broken  bottles,  several  pieces  of  broken  basins 
or  cups,  blue  and  white  delfware,  hoops  of  marine's  water  keg,  small 
iron  hoops,  fragments  of  white  line,  spun  yarn,  canvas,  and  twine  ; 
three  small  canvas  tents,  under  which  lay  a  bearskin  and  fragments 
of  blankets  ;  two  blanket  frocks,  several  old  mits,  stockings,  gloves, 
pilot  cloth  and  box  cloth  jackets  and  trousers,  large  shot,  piece  of 
tobacco  and  broken  pipe,  metal  part  of  powder-case,  top  of  tin 
canister,  marked  "  cheese,"  preserved-potato  tin,  feathers  of  ptarmi- 
gan, and  salt-meat  bones. 

Seen  near  Cape  Maria  Louisa  : — 

Part  of  a  drift  tree,  white  spruce  fir,  18  feet  long,  10  inches  in 
diameter ;  it  appeared  to  have  but  recently  (i.  e.  since  thrown  on 
the  coast)  been  sawed  longitudinally  down  the  centre,  and  one-half 
of  it  removed. 

Eelics    obtained   from   the   Boothian   Esquimaux,  near   the 
Magnetic  Pole,  in  March  and  April,  1859  : — 

Seven  knives  made  by  the  natives  out  of  materials  obtained  from 
the  last  expedition,  one  knife  without  a  handle,  one  spear-bead  and 
staff  (the  latter  has  broken  off),  two  files  ;  a  large  spoon  or  scoop,  the 
handle  of  pine  or  bone,  the  bowl  of  musk-ox  horn  ;  six  silver  spoons 
and  forks,  the  property  of  Sir  John  Franklin,  Lieutenants  H.  D. 
Vescomte  and  Fairholme,  A.  M'Donald,  Assistant-Surgeon,  and 
Lieutenant  E.  Couch  (supposed  from  the  initial  letter  T  and  crest  a 
lion's  head)  ;  a  small  portion  of  a  gold  watch-chain,  a  broken  piece 
of  ornamental  work  apparently  silver  gilt,  a  few  small  naval  and 
other  metal  buttons,  a  silver  medal  obtained  by  Mr.  M'Donald  as  a 
prize  for  superior  attainments  at  a  medical  examination  in  Edin- 
burgh April,  1838  ;  some  bows  and  arrows,  in  which  wood,  iron,  or 
copper  has  been  used  in  the  construction — of  no  other  interest. 

Eemarks  upon  these  Articles. 
The  spear-staff  measures  6  feet  3  inches  in  length,  and  appears 
to  have  been  part  of  a  light  boat's  gunwale :  it  measured  (before 
being  partially  rounded  to  adapt  it  to  its  present  use)  about  H  by 
1|  inches,  is  made  of  English  oak,  and  upon  the  side  has  been 
painted  white  over  green.  The  spear-head  is  of  steel,  riveted  to 
two  pieces  of  hoop,  with  bone  between,  and  lashed  on  to  the  staff. 
The  rivets  are  of  copper  nails.  The  native  who  sold  it  said  he 
himself  got  it  from  the  boat  in  the  Fish  River.  Another  spear  of 
the  same  kind  was  seen.  The  knives  are  made  either  of  iron  or 
steel,  riveted  to  two  strips  of  hoop,  between  which  the  handle  of 
wood  is  inserted,  and  rivets  passed  through,  securing  them  together. 

2    B 


370  APPENDIX.  No.  III. 

The  rivets  are  almost  all  made  out  of  copper  nails,  such  as  would  be 
found  in  a  copper-fastened  boat,  but  those  which  have  been  exa- 
mined do  not  bear  the  Government  mark.  It  is  probable  that  most 
of  the  boats  of  the  '  Erebus '  and  '  Terror '  were  built  by  contract, 
and  therefore  would  not  have  the  broad  arrow  stamped  upon  their 
iron  and  copper  work.  One  small  knife  appears  to  have  been  a  sur- 
gical instrument.  A  large  knife  obtained  in  April  bears  some 
marking,  such  as  a  sword  or  a  cutlass  might  have.  The  man  who 
sold  it  said  he  bought  it  from  another,  who  picked  it  up  on  the  land 
where  the  ship  was  driven  ashore  by  the  ice,  and  where  the  white 
people  had  thrown  it  away  ;  it  was  then  about  as  long  as  his  arm. 
This  was  the  first  information  he  received  of  one  of  the  ships  having 
drifted  on  shore.  One  knife  and  one  file  are  stamped  with  the 
broad  arrow.  The  handles  are  variously -composed  of  oak,  ash,  pine, 
mahogany,  elm,  and  bone.  The  spoons  and  forks  were  readily  sold 
for  a  few  needles  each,  also  the  buttons,  which  they  wore  as  orna- 
ments on  their  dresses.  Bows  and  arrows  were  readil}T  exchanged 
for  knives.  Previously  to  the  stranding  on  the  neighbouring  shore 
of  the  last  expedition  these  people  must  have  been  almost  destitute 
of  wood  or  iron.  Some  of  them  had  even  got  only  bone  knives  and 
spear-points.  Some  of  their  sledges  were  seen,  consisting  of  two 
rolls  of  sealskin,  flattened  and  frozen,  to  serve  as  runners,  and  con- 
nected together  by  cross  bars  of  bones.  Many  more  knives,  bows, 
and  buttons,  similar  to  those  brought  away,  might  have  been  ob- 
tained, but  no  personal  or  important  relics. 

Seen  in  a  Snow  Hut  in  lat.  701°  deg.  N.s  20th  of  April, 

1859,  not  brouglit  away  : — 

Two  wooden  shovels,  one  of  them  made  of  mahogany  board,  some 
spear-handles  and  a  bow  of  English  wood,  a  deal  case  which  might 
have  served  for  a  telescope  or  barometer.  Its  external  dimensions 
were  : — length,  3  ft.  1  in.  ;  depth,  3£  in. ;  width,  9  in. ;  two  brass 
hinges  remained  attached  to  it. 

Eelics  obtained  from  the  Esquimaux  near  Cape  Norton,  upon 
the  East  Coast  of  King  William  Island,  in  May  1859  : — 
Two  tablespoons  ;  upon  one  is  scratched  "  W.  "W.,'1  on  the  other 
"  W.  G. ;"  these  bear  the  Franklin  crest ;  two  table  forks,  one  bear- 
ing the  Franklin  crest,  the  other  is  also  crested,  probably  Captain 
Crozier's  ;  silversmith's  name  is  "  I.  "West ;"  two  teaspoons,  one  en- 
graved "  A.  M.  D."  (A.  M'Donald),  the  other  bears  the  Fairholme 
crest  and  motto ;  handle  of  a  dessert  knife,  into  which  had  been 
inserted  a  razor  (since  broken  off)  by  Millikin,  Strand  ;  buttons, 
wood  and  iron,  were  here  in  abundance,  but  as  enough  of  these  had 
already  been  obtained  no  more  were  purchased. 

Taken  out  of  some  deserted  snow-huts  near  here,  some  scraps  of 


No.  III.  APPENDIX.  371 

different  kinds  of  wood,  such  as  could  not  be  obtained  from  a  boat 
— teak  or  African  oak. 

Found  lying  about  the  skeleton,  9  miles  eastward  of  Cape  Her- 
schel,  May,  1859  : — The  tie  of  black  silk  neckerchief ;  fragments  of  a 
double-breasted  blue  cloth  waistcoat,  with  covered  silk  buttons,  and 
edged  with  braid ;  a  scrap  of  a  coloured  cotton  shirt,  silk  covered 
buttons  of  blue  cloth  great-coat,  a  small  clothes-brush,  a  horn  pocket- 
comb,  a  leathern  pocket-book,  which  fell  to  pieces  when  thawed  and 
dried  ;  it  contained  9  or  10  letters,  a  few  leaves  apparently  blank ; 
a  sixpence*  date  1831 ;   and  a  half-sovereign,  dated  1844. 

Articles  seen  among  the  natives  at  Cape  Norton,  not  purchased  : 
— Bows  made  of  wood,  knives,  uniform  and  plain  buttons,  a  sledge 
made  of  two  long  pieces  of  hard  wood. 

From  beside  an  Esquimaux  stone-mark,  on  the  east  side  of 
Montreal  Island  : — Part  of  a  preserved-meat  tin,  painted  red  ;  part  of 
the  rim  of  some  strong  copper  case  or  vessel ;  pieces  of  iron  hoop, 
two  pieces  of  flat  iron,  an  iron  hook  bolt,  a  piece  of  sheet  copper. 

Articles  seen  about  a  snow-hut  near  Point  Booth,  not  purchased  : 
— Eight  or  10  fir  poles,  varying  from  5  feet  to  10  feet  in  length,  the 
stoutest  being  2i  inches  in  diameter.  Two  wooden  snow  shovels 
about  3£  feet  long,  and  made  of  pieces  of  plank  painted  white  or 
pale  yellow ;  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  pieces  of  plank  might  have 
been  the  bottom  boards  of  a  boat.  There  was  abundance  of  wood 
fashioned  into  smaller  articles. 

Contents  of  Boat's  Medicine  Chest : — 

One  bottle  labelled  as  zinzib.  R.  pulv.,  full ;  ditto,  spirit,  rect., 
empty  ;  ditto,  mur.  hydrarg.  seven-eighths  full ;  ditto,  ol.  caryphyll., 
one-fifth  full ;  ditto,  ipec.  P.  co.,  full ;  ditto,  ol.  menth.  pip.,  empty  ; 
ditto,  liq.  ammon.  fort.,  three-quarters  full ;  ditto,  ol.  olivac,  full ; 
ditto,  tinct.  opii.  camph.,  three-quarters  full ;  ditto,  vin.  sem.  colch., 
full ;  ditto,  quarter  full ;  ditto,  calomel,  full  (broken) ;  ditto,  hydrarg. 
hit.  oxyd.,  full;  ditto,  pulv.  gregor.,  full  (broken);  ditto,  magnes. 
carb.,  full ;  ditto,  camphor,  full ;  two  bottles  tine,  tolut ,  each  quarter 
full;  one  bottle  ipec.  E.  pulv.,  full;  ditto,  jalap  E.  pulv.,  full; 
ditto,  scammon.  pulv.,  full ;  ditto,  quinac  bisulph.  empty ;  ditto 
(not  labelled),  tinct.  opii.,  three-quarters  full ;  one  box  (apparently) 
purgative  pills,  full;  ditto,  ointment,  shrunk  ;  ditto,  emp.  adhesiv., 
full ;  one  probang,  one  pen  wrapped  up  in  lint,  one  lead  pencil,  one 
pewter  syringe,  two  small  tubes  (test)  wrapped  up  in  lint,  one 
farthing,  bandages,  oil  silk,  lint,  thread. 


2  b  2 


372  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 


No.  IV. 

GEOLOGICAL  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  AECTIC  ARCHIPELAGO, 

DRAWN  UP  PRINCIPALLY  FROM  THE  SPECIMENS  COLLECTED  BY 

Captain  F.  L.  M'Cltntock,  R.N., 

From  1849  to  1859. 

BY  THE  REV.  SAMUEL  HAUGHTON,  F.R.S., 

Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Professor  of  Geology  in  the  University  of  Dublin,  and 
President  of  the  Geological  Society  of  Dublin. 


The  map  which  accompanies  this  geological  descrip- 
tion is  arranged  from  the  specimens  brought  home  by 
Captain  F.  L.  M'Clintock,  E.N".,  from  the  four  Arctic 
Expeditions  in  which  he  served  from  1848  to  1859.  These 
specimens  are  all  deposited  in  the  Museum  of  the  Koyal 
Dublin  Society,  and  form  a  more  extensive  and  better 
collection  of  Arctic  rocks  and  fossils  than  is  to  be  found 
in  any  other  museum  in  Europe. 

It  will  be  most  convenient  to  describe  the  geology  of 
the  Arctic  Islands  by  the  formations  which  are  to  be 
found  there,  which  are  the  following  : — 

1.  The  Granitic  and  Granitoid  Kocks. 

2.  The  Upper  Silurian  Kocks. 

3.  The  Carboniferous  Eocks. 

4.  The  Lias  Eocks, 

5.  The  Superficial  Deposits. 

I  shall  describe  these  successive  formations  briefly, 
and  add  a  few  remarks  of  a  theoretical  character,  to 
indicate  the  important  inferences  which  may  be  drawn 
from  the  facts  respecting  them  made  known  to  us  by 
M'Clintock's  discoveries. 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  373 


I. — The  Granitic  and  Granitoid  Hocks. 

These  rocks  form  a  considerable  part  of  North  Green- 
land, on  the  east  side  of  Baffin's  Bay,  and  constitute  the 
rock  of  the  country  at  the  east  side  of  the  island  of 
North  Devon,  which  forms  a  portion  of  the  coast-line 
of  the  west  of  Baffin's  Bay,  and  the  north  side  of  the 
entrance  into  Lancaster  Sound. 

1.  Whale  Fish  Islands,  lat.  69°  N.,  are  composed  of  a 
very  fine-grained,  flaggy,  black  mica  schist,  composed 
of  black  mica  in  very  small  plates,  occasionally  putting 
on  a  hornblendic  lustre,  and  minute  grains  of  quartz 
interstratified  with  the  mica.  The  softer  varieties  are 
cut  by  the  natives  into  grissets  and  cooking  utensils  of 
various  shapes,  some  of  which  resemble  the  cambstones 
found  in  Ireland,  which  are  made  from  a  kind  of  pot- 
stone,  abundant  in  parts  of  the  County  Donegal. 

2.  Upernavik,  lat.  72°  N.,  Greenland. — This  district 
is  famous  for  the  occurrence  of  large  quantities  of  plum- 
bago, which  is  found  in  a  metamorphic  rock  of  the 
following  character.  Fine-grained,  amorphous,  grani- 
toid rock,  composed  of  minute  particles  of  grey  quartz  ; 
a  honey-coloured  felspar  of  waxy  lustre,  of  unknown 
composition;  minute  particles  of  red  semitransparent 
garnet,  of  conchoiclal  fracture  ;  and  small  particles,  with 
occasional  large  nests,  of  plumbago.  The  plumbago 
occurs  both  amorphous,  and  in  long  acicular  crystals. 
Sometimes  the  rock  becomes  of  coarser  texture  and 
more  crystalline,  and  the  yellow  colour  of  the  felspar 
gives  place  to  a  greenish  tinge ;  and  it  sometimes  also 
becomes  a  felspar  of  perfect  cleavage,  semitransparent, 
and  white.  The  dodecahedral  crystals  of  garnet  reach 
the  diameter  of  one  inch. 

The  general  character  of  the  rocks  near  Upernavik 
is  different  from  that  of  the  rock  in  which  the  plumbago 
is  found ;  they  consist  of  a  fine-grained  black  mica  schist, 


374  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

with  very  little  felspar  or  quartz,  and  intersected  by 
thin  veins  of  elvan  composed  of  quartz  and  white  felspar. 
The  cooking  utensils  of  the  natives  are  made  from  this 
fine  schist,  in  preference  to  any  other  description  of 
rock. 

3.  Woman's  Islands. — These  islands,  off  the  west  coast 
of  Greenland,  are  composed  of  a  garnetiferous  mica 
slate,  formed  of  black  mica  in  layers,  with  alternating 
plates  composed  of  white  felspar  and  quartz,  and  filled 
with  fine  garnets,  rose-coloured,  vitreous  in  fracture,  and 
transparent. 

4.  Cape  York,  lat.  76°  N.,  Greenland. — This  cape  is 
composed  of  a  fine-grained  granite,  consisting  of  quartz, 
white  felspar,  with  minute  specks  of  a  black  mineral,  of 
pitchy  lustre,  composition  not  yet  determined. 

5.  Wolstenhohne  and  Whale  Sounds,  lat.  77°  N., 
Greenland. — At  Wolstenholme  Sound  the  granitoid 
rocks  of  Greenland  become  converted  into  mica  slate 
and  actinolite  s]ate  of  a  remarkable  character.  The 
mica  slate  is  composed  of  large  plates  of  an  intimate 
mixture  of  black  and  white  mica,  the  chemical  examina- 
tion of  which  will  doubtless  prove  of  interest.  These 
plates  of  mica  are  separated  by  bands  of  pure  white 
felspar.  The  actinolite  slate  is  dark  green,  and  formed 
by  an  almost  insensible  gradation  from  the  mica  slate. 
In  the  low  ground  between  Wolstenholme  and  Whale 
Sounds,  the  granitic  rocks  cease,  and  are  covered  by 
deposits  of  fine  red  gritty  sandstone,  of  a  banded  struc- 
ture, and  a  remarkable  coarse  white  conglomerate. 
The  boundary  between  these  formations  is  also  marked 
by  the  development  of  masses  of  dolerite  and  clayey 
basalt. 

6.  Carey's  Islands,  76°  40'  N.,  Greenland,  lie  to 
the  westward  of  Wolstenholme  Sound,  and  are  com- 
posed of  a  remarkable  gneissose  mica  schist,  formed  of 
successive  thin  layers  of  quartz  granules,  containing 
scarcely  any  felspar,  and  layers  of  jet  black  mica,  with 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  375 

occasional  facets  of  white  mica.  This  mica  schist  passes 
into  a  white  gneiss,  composed  of  quartz,  white  felspar, 
and  black  mica,  penetrated  by  veins,  coarsely  crystal- 
lised, of  the  same  minerals.  Yellow  and  white  sand- 
stones are  also  found  in  small  quantity  on  the  islands, 
reposing  upon  the  granitoid  rocks. 

7.  Capes  Osborn  and  Warrender,  lat.  74°  30'  N.,  North 
Devon. — ^The  granitoid  rocks  between  these  two  capes 
are  composed  of  graphic  granite,  consisting  of  quartz 
(grey)  and  white  felspar;  this  graphic  granite  passes 
into  a  laminated  gneiss,  consisting  of  layers  of  black 
mica  and  white  translucent  felspar,  sparingly  mixed 
with  quartz;  with  the  gneiss  are  interstratified  beds 
of  garnetiferous  mica  slate,  consisting  of  quartz,  pale 
greenish  white  felspar,  black  and  white  mica  in  minute 
spangles,  and  crystals  of  garnet,  rose-coloured,  dissemi- 
nated regularly  through  the  mass.  Quartziferous  bands 
of  epidotic  hornstone  occur  with  the  foregoing  beds ; 
and  the  whole  series  is  overlaid  by  red  sandstones,  of 
banded  structure,  which  bear  a  striking  resemblance  to 
those  that  overlie  the  granitoid  beds  of  Wolstenholme 
Sound. 

8.  North  Somerset. — The  granitoid  rocks  are  found 
again  on  the  west  side  of  the  island  of  North  Somerset, 
where  they  form  the  eastern  boundary  of  Peel  Sound. 
Boulders  of  granite  are  found  at  a  considerable  distance 
(100  miles)  to  the  north-eastward  of  the  rock  in  situ,  as  at 
Port  Leopold,  Cape  Kennell,  &c.  The  general  character 
of  the  granitic  rocks  in  the  north  and  west  of  North 
Somerset  are  thus  described  by  Captain  M'Clintock : — 

"  Near  Cape  Eennell  we  passed  a  very  remarkable 
rounded  boulder  of  gneiss  or  granite  ;  it  was  6  yards  in 
circumference,  and  stood  near  the  beach,  and  some  15 
or  20  yards  above  it;  one  or  two  masses  of  rounded 
gneiss,  although  very  much  smaller,  had  arrested  our 
attention  at  Port  Leopold,  as  then  we  knew  of  no  such 
formation  nearer  than  Cape  Warrender,  130  miles  to 


376  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

the  north-east ;  subsequently  we  found  it  to  commence 
in  situ  at  Cape  Granite,  nearly  100  miles  to  the  south- 
west of  Port  Leopold. 

"  The  granite  of  Cape  Warrender  differs  considerably 
from  that  of  North  Somerset;  the  former  being  a 
graphic  granite,  composed  of  grey  quartz  and  white 
felspar,  the  quartz  predominating ;  while  the  latter,  or 
North  Somerset  granite,  is  composed  of  grey  quartz,  red 
felspar,  and  green  chloritic  mica,  the  latter  in  large 
flakes ;  both  the  granite  and  gneiss  of  North  Somerset 
are  remarkable  for  their  soapy  feel."  * 

To  the  east  of  Cape  Bunny,  where  the  Silurian  lime- 
stone ceases,  and  south  of  which  the  granite  commences, 
is  a  remarkable  valley  called  Transition  Valley,  from 
the  junction  of  sandstone  and  limestone  that  takes  place 
there.  The  sandstone  is  red,  and  of  the  same  general 
character  as  that  which  rests  upon  the  granitoid  rocks 
at  Cape  Warrender  and  at  Wolstenholme  Sound. 
Owing  to  the  mode  of  travelling,  by  sledge  on  the  ice, 
round  the  coast,  no  information  was  obtained  of  the 
geology  of  the  interior  of  the  country,  but  it  appears 
highly  probable  that  the  granite  of  North  Somerset,  as 
well  as  that  of  the  other  localities  mentioned,  is  over- 
laid by  a  group  of  sandstones  and  conglomerates,  on 
which  the  Upper  Silurian  limestones  repose  directly. 
A  low  sandy  beach  marks  the  termination  of  the  valley 
northwards,  and  on  this  beach  were  found  numerous 
pebbles,  washed  from  the  hills  of  the  interior,  composed 
of  quartzose  sandstone,  carnelian,  and  Silurian  lime- 
stone. The  accompanying  sketch  was  made  by  Captain 
M'Clintock,  on  the  spot,  in  1849,  and  afterwards  finished 
by  Lieutenant  Browne.  It  represents  the  island  called 
Caj3e  Bunny,  which  forms  the  eastern  headland  of  the 
entrance  of  the  now  famous  Peel  Sound,  down  which  the 
'  Erebus  '  and  '  Terror '  sailed,  three  years  before  it  was 


Journal  of  the  Eoyal  Dublin  Society,  1857. 


No.  IV 


APPENDIX. 


377 


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8 


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r/i 


visited  by  Sir  James  C.  Koss  and 
Lieutenant  M'Clintock,  in  their  first 
sledge  journey  on  the  ice.  Cape 
Granite  is  the  northern  boundary  of 
the  granite,  which  retains  the  same 
character  as  far  as  Howe  Harbour. 
It  is  composed  of  quartz,  red  felspar, 
and  dark  green  chlorite ;  and  is  ac- 
companied witli  gneiss  of  the  same 
composition.  I  have  in  my  posses- 
sion a  specimen  of  this  granite,  found 
as  a  pebble  at  Graham  Moore  Bay, 
Bathurst  Island,  S.W.,  a  locality  135 
knots  distant  from  Cape  Granite,  to 
the  N.W. 

9.  Bellofs  Straits,  lat.  72°  K,  sepa- 
rate North  Somerset  from  Boothia 
Felix.  The  '  Fox  '  Expedition  win- 
tered here  in  1858,  and  had  abundant 
means  of  ascertaining  the  geological 
structure  of  the  neighbourhood.  The 
junction  of  the  granitoid  and  Silurian 
rocks  occurs  in  these  straits,  the  low 
ground  to  the  east  being  horizontal 
beds  of  Silurian  limestone,  while  on 
the  west  the  granite  hills  of  West 
Somerset  rise  to  a  height  of  1600  feet 
above  the  narrow  straits.  The  granite 
here  is  of  three  varieties. 

a.  Blackish  grey,  fine-grained, 
gneissose  granite,  composed  of 
quartz,  white  felspar,  and  large 
quantities  of  fine  grains  and  flakes 
of  hornblende,  passing  into  black 
mica.  The  gneissose  beds  of  this 
granite  dip  13°  S.E. 

/3.   A   red    granite,   graphic    tex- 


378  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

ture,    composed    of    quartz    and    red    felspar,    coarse 
grained. 

y.  Syenite,  composed  of  honey-yellow  felspar  and 
hornblende,  in  very  large  crystals,  the  felspar  passing 
into  red  and  pink,  and  the  whole  rock  mass  penetrated 
by  veins  of  the  same  material,  but  fine  grained.  This 
variety  of  igneous  rock  was  met  with  principally  at 
Pemmican  Rock,  western  inlet  of  Beliefs  Straits. 
Large  quantities  of  hornblende  are  also  met  with  at 
Leveque  Harbour,  Bellot's  Straits,  composed  of  facetted 
crystals  agglutinated  together  into  large  masses,  forming 
a  crystalline  hornblendic  gneiss. 

10.  Pond's  Bay,  Baffin's  Bay,  lat.  72°  40'  K— In 
this  locality  a  quartziferous  black  mica  schist  underlies 
the  Silurian  limestone,  and  is  interstratified  with  gneiss 
and  garnetiferous  quartz  rock,  all  in  beds,  inclined 
38°  W.S.W.  (true). 

11.  Montreal  Island,  mouth  of  the  Fish  River,  lat. 
67°  45'  N. — The  granitoid  rocks,  which  everywhere,  in 
the  Arctic  Archipelago,  underlie  the  Silurian  limestone, 
appear  at  Montreal  Island  as  a  gneiss,  composed  of  bands 
of  felspar  (pink)  and  quartz  (|  inch  thick),  separated 
by  thin  plates  composed  altogether  of  black  mica ;  the 
whole  rock  exhibiting  the  phenomena  of  foliation  in  a 
marked  degree. 

The  east  side  of  Ring  William's  Island,  though  com- 
posed of  Silurian  limestone  like  the  rest  of  the  island, 
is  strewed  with  boulders  of  black  and  red  micaceous 
gneiss,  like  that  of  Montreal  Island,  and  black  meta- 
morphic  clay  slate,  in  which  the  crystals  of  mica  (qu. 
Ottrelite)  are  just  commencing  to  be  developed.  It  is 
probable  that  the  granitoid  rocks  appear  at  the  surface 
somewhat  to  the  eastward  of  this  locality. 

12.  Prince  of  Wales  Island,  west  of  Peel  Sound. — 
The  granitoid  rocks  extend  across  Peel  Sound  into 
Prince  of  Wales'  Island,  in  the  form  of  a  dark  syenite, 
composed  of  quartz,  greenish  white  felspar  passing  into 


Xo.  IV.  APPENDIX.  379 

yellow,  and  hornblende.  This  rock  is  massive  and 
eruptive  at  Cape  M'Clure,  lat.  72°  52'  1ST.,  and  occasion- 
ally gneissose,  as  at  lat.  72°  13'  N".  Between  these  two 
points,  at  lat.  72°  37'  N.,  a  limestone  bluff  occurs  con- 
taining the  characteristic  Silurian  fossils,  and  is  suc- 
ceeded at  72°  40'  by  a  ferruginous  limestone,  bright 
red,  and  a  few  beds  of  fine  red  sandstone,  like  those 
observed  by  M'Clintock  at  Transition  Valley,  North 
Somerset.  The  entire  western  portion  of  Prince  of 
Wales'  Liand  is  composed  of  Silurian  limestone,  which  in 
the  extreme  west,  at  Cape  Acworth,  becomes  chalky  in 
character  and  non-fossiliferous,  resembling  the  peculiar 
Silurian  limestone  found  on  the  west  side  of  Boothia 
Felix. 

II. — The  Silurian  Rocks. 

The  Silurian  rocks  of  the  Arctic  Archipelago  rest 
everywhere  directly  on  the  granitoid  rocks,  with  a  re- 
markable red  sandstone,  passing  into  coarse  grit,  for 
their  base.  This  sandstone  is  succeeded  by  ferruginous 
limestone,  containing  rounded  particles  of  quartz,  which 
rapidly  passes  into  a  fine  greyish  green  earthy  lime- 
stone, abounding  in  fossils,  and  occasionally  into  a 
chalky  limestone,  of  a  cream  colour,  for  the  most  part 
devoid  of  fossils.  The  average  dip  of  the  Silurian  lime- 
stone varies  from  0°  to  5°  N.N.W.,  and  it  forms  occa- 
sionally high  cliffs,  and  occasionally  low  flat  plains, 
terraced  by  the  action  of  the  ice  as  the  ground  rose 
from  beneath  the  sea.  The  general  appearance  of  the 
rocks  is  similar  to  the  Dudley  limestone,  and  would 
strike  even  an  observer  who  was  not  a  geologist.  This 
resemblance  to  the  Upper  Silurian  beds  extends  to  the 
structure  of  the  rocks  on  the  large  scale.  Alternations 
of  hard  limestone  and  soft  shale,  so  characteristic  of  the 
Upper  Silurian  beds  of  England  and  America,  arranged 
in  horizontal   layers,  give    to  the    cliffs    around  Port 


380  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

Leopold  the  peculiar  appearance  which  has  been  de- 
scribed by  different  Polar  navigators  as  "  buttress-like," 
"  castellated  ;"  this  appearance  is  produced  by  the  un- 
equal weathering  of  the  cliff,  which  causes  the  hard 
limestone  to  stand  out  in  bands.  Excellent  sketches 
of  this  remarkable  appearance,  drawn  by  Lieutenant 
Beechey,  are  figured  at  page  35  of  Parry's  First  Voyage, 
'Hecla'  and  <  Griper,'  1819-20.  The  western  side  of 
King  William's  Island  (now,  alas !  invested  with  so  sad 
an  interest)  is  a  good  example  of  the  low  terraged  form 
which  the  limestone  rocks  assume  at  times. 

The  following  lists  contain  the  names  of  the  principal 
fossils  brought  home  by  Captain  M'Clintock  : — 

No.  I.   GARNIER  BAY  (Lat.  74°  N. ;  Long.  92°  W.). 

1.  CyatliopliyUum  lieliantlioides,  several  specimens. 

2.  Heliolites  porosa.     Garnier  Bay.    Another  specimen  from  near 

Cape  Bunny. 

3.  Specimens  of  carnelian,  gneiss,  chalcedony,  &c.  &c,  from   the 

shingle  near  Cape  Bunny. 

4.  Cromus  Arcticus,  several  specimens. 

5.  Atrypa  plioca  (Salter). 

6.  Atrypa  reticularis. 

7.  Brachiopoda  on  slab  (various). 

8.  Cyathophyllum. 

9.  Columnaria  Sutherlandi  (Salter).     Several  specimens. 

No.  II.  PORT  LEOPOLD  (Lat.  73°  50'  N. ;  Long.  90°  15'  W.). 

1 .  Limestone  containing  numerous  fossils  of  the  Upper  Silurian  type  : 

Calamopora  Gothlandica,  Goldf.    Bhynchonella  cuneata  ?    Dalm. 
Cyatliophyllum,  sp. 

2.  Dark  earthy  limestone,  containing  multitudes  of  the  Loxonema 

M'Clintocki,  as  casts — 1100  feet  above  sea-level  on  North-east 
Cape. 

3.  Fine  specimens  of  selenite  from  shaly  beds  in  cliff. 

4.  Fibrous  gypsum  from  same. 

No.  III.  GRIFFITH'S  ISLAND  (Lat.  74°  35' N. ;  Long.  95°  30'  W.). 

1.  Beautiful  specimens   of  the  Cromus  Arcticus.    PI.  VI.  Fig.  5, 

Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I. 

2.  Orthoceras  GriffitM.     PI.  V.  Fig.  1,  Journ,  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I. 

3.  An  Orthoceras  with  lateral  siphuncle,  and  simple  circular  outline 

of  septa. 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  381 

4.  Loxonema  Bossi.     PI.  V.  Figs.  6,  8,  9,  10,  11,  Journ.  R.  D.  S., 

Vol.  I. 

5.  Numerous  specimeus  of  crinoidal  lirnestoue. 

6.  Strophomena   Donnettt  (Salter).     Sutherland's  Voyage ;    PI.   V. 

Figs.  11,  12. 

7.  Atrypa  phoca  (Salter).    PI.  V.  Figs.  3, 4, 7,  Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I. ; 

and  a  ribbed  Atrypa,  not  identified  with  European  species,  and 
undescribed. 

8.  An  undescribed  bryozoan  Zoophyte.     PI.  VII.  Fig.  6,  Journ. 

R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I. 

9.  Calophyllum  Phragmocer as  (Salter).     Sutherland ;  PI.  VI.  Fig .  4. 

10.  Syringopora  geniculata. 

11.  An  undescribed  species  of  Macroclieilus. 

No.  IV.   BEECHEY  ISLAND  (Lat.  74°  40'  N. ;  Long.  92°  W.). 

1.  Orthoceras  (species). 

2.  Great  multitudes  of  Atrypa  phoca,   forming,  in  fact,   a  dark- 

coloured  earthy  Atrypa  limestone . 

3.  With  these  were  associated  many  species  of  Loxonema,  some- 

times so  abundant  as  to  form  a  pale  pink  and  whitish  Loxonema 
limestone. 

4.  A  species  of  ribbed  Atrypa. 

5.  Crinoidal  limestone  in  abundance. 

6.  Syringopora  reticulata. 

7.  Calophyllum  phragmocer  as  (Salter).     Sutherland;  PI.  VI.  Fig.  4. 

8.  Cyathophyllum  csespitosum. 

9.  Cyathophyllum  articulatum  (Edwardes  and  Haime). 

10.  Calamopora  Gothlandica. 

11.  Calamopora  alveolar  is. 

12.  Favistella  Franklini  (Salter).     Sutherland  ;  PI.  VI.  Fig.  3. 

13.  Clisiophyllum  Salteri.     Sutherland;  PI.  VI.  Fig.  7. 

14.  Cyathophyllum  (species). 

15.  Loxonema  Salteri,  described  by  Mr.  Salter  in  Sutherland's  '  Voyag  e 

to  Wellington  Channel ;'  PI.  V.  Fig.  19. 

This  is  a  fine  slab  of  limestone,  almost  altogether  composed  of 
the  remains  of  Loxonema  Salteri  and  Atrypa  phoca.  It  appears 
to  have  been  quietly  deposited  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  submarine 
depression,  swarming  with  Pyramidellidgs  and  deep-water  Brachi- 
opoda.  The  physical  conditions  indicated  by  the  fossils  are  also 
rendered  probable  by  the  rock  itself,  which  consists  of  fine  grey 
limestone,  subcrystalline,  and  intimately  blended  with  the  finest 
and  most  delicate  description  of  mud,  such  as  could  only  be  found 
where  the  water  was  deep,  and  all  currents  far  removed. 

No.  V.  CORNWALLIS  ISLAND,  Assistance  Bay  (Lat.  74°  40'  N. ; 
Long.  94°  W.). 

1.  Orthoceras  Ommaneyi  (Salter).     Sutherland  ;  PI.  V.  Figs.  16,  17. 

2.  Pentamerus  conchidium  (Dalman).   Sutherland  ;  PI.  V.  Figs.  9, 10. 


382  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

3.  Pentamerus  limestone. 

4.  Cromus  Arcticus.     Journ.  K.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  VI. 

5.  Cardiola  Salteri.     PL  VII.  Fig.  5.     Journ.  K.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I. 

6.  Syringopora  geniculata. 

No.  VI.   CAPE  YORK,  Lancaster  Sound  (Lat.  73°  50'  N. ; 

Long.  87°  W.). 
A  specimen  of  the  same  fossil  coral  which  I  have  named,  doubt- 
fully, from  Beechey  Island,  asFavosites  or  Calamopora  Gothlandica ; 
it  is  not  impossible,  however,  that  it  is  not  a  Calamopora  at  all,  but 
a  species  of.  Chaetetes. 

No.  VII.   POSSESSION  BAY,  South  Entrance  into  Lancaster  Sound 
(Lat.  73°  30'  N. ;  Long.  77°  20'  W.). 
Specimens  of  brown  earthy  limestone,  with  a  fetid  smell  when 
struck  with  a  hammer ;  resembles  closely  the  limestone  of  Cape 
York,  Lancaster  Sound. 

No.  VIII.  DEPOT  BAY,  Bellofs  Straits  (Lat.  72°  N. ;  Long.  94°  W.). 

1.  Maclurea  sp. 

2.  Cyathophyllum  helianthoides  (Goldfuss). 

The  limestone  at  this  locality  is  white  and  saccharoid,  with  large 
rhombohedral  crystals  of  calcspar. 

*No.  IX.   CAPE   FAREAND,  East  side   of  Boothia  (Lat.  71°  38' : 
Long.  93°  35'  W.). 

1.  Atrypa  phoca  (Salter).     Sutherland;  PI.  V.  Fig.  3. 

2.  Loxonema  Eossi.     Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  V. 

3.  Atrypa  (ribbed  sp.). 

4.  Calamopora  Gothlandica  (Goldfuss). 

5.  Cyrtoeeras  sp. 

The  rock  at  this  locality  is  a  grey  mud  limestone. 

No.  X.  WEST  SHORE    OF  BOOTHIA  (Lat.  70°  to  71?  N.),  con- 
taining the  Magnetic  Pole. 

1.  Atrypa  phoca  (Salter). 

2.  Loxonema  Eossi.     Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  V. 

3.  Favistella  Franklini  (Salter).     Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  XL 

4.  Loxonema  Salteri.     Sutherland  ;  PI.  V.  Fig.  18. 

The  cream-coloured  chalky  limestone  found  on  the  west  side  of 
Prince  of  Wales'  Island  here  occurs,  and  is  generally  destitute  of 
fossils,  like  that  of  Prince  of  Wales'  Land. 

*No.  XI.   FURY  POINT  (Lat.  72°  50'  N.  ;  Long.  92°  W.). 

1.  Cromus  Arcticus.     Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  VI. 

2.  Maclurea  sp. 


*  Collected  by  Dr.  Wilker,  surgeon  to  the  '  Fox '  Expedition. 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  383 

3.  Mya  rotundata  (?). 

4.  Stromatopora  concentrica. 

5.  Cyathophyllum  helianthoides  (Goldfuss). 

6.  Petraia  bina. 

7.  Calamopora  Gothlandica  (Goldfuss). 

8.  Favosites  megastoma  (?). 

'.).  Cyathophyllum  csespitosum. 

10.  Favistella  Franklini  (Salter).     Sutherland  ;  PI.  VI.  Fig.  3. 

11.  Strephodes  Austini  (Salter).     Sutherland;  PI.  VI.  Fig.  6. 

12.  Atrypa  phoca  (Salter.) 

The  limestone  here  is  of  the  same  grey  earthy  aspect  as  at 
Beechey  Island  and  Port  Leopold. 

*No.XII.    PRINCE  OF  WALES'  LAND  (Lat.  72     38'   N. ;  Long. 

97^  15'  W.). 

1.  Cyathophyllum  sp. 

2.  Calamopora  Gothlandica  (Goldfuss). 

3.  Stromatopora  concentrica. 

These  fossils  occur  in  grey  earthy  limestone,  near  its  junction 
with  the  red  arenaceous  limestone  already  described. 

No.  XIII.  WEST  COAST  OF  KING  WILLIAMS  ISLAND. 

1.  Loxonema  Rossi.     Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  V. 

2.  Catenipora  eschar oides. 

3.  Orthoceras  sp. 

4.  Maclurea  sp. 

5.  Atrypa  sp. 

6.  Syringopora  geniculata. 

7.  Clisiophyllum  sp. 

8.  Orthis  elegantula. 

III. — The  Carboniferous  Rocks. 

The  Upper  Silurian  limestones  already  described  are 
succeeded  by  a  most  remarkable  series  of  close-grained 
white  sandstones,  containing  numerous  beds  of  highly 
bituminous  coal,  and  but  few  marine  fossils.  In  fact,  the 
only  fossil  shell  found  in  these  beds,  so  far  as  I  know, 
in  any  part  of  the  Arctic  Archipelago,  is  a  species  of 
ribbed  Atrypa,  which  I  believe  to  be  identical  with  the 
Atrypa  fallax  of  the  carboniferous  slate  of  Ireland. 
These  sandstone  beds  are  succeeded  by  a  series  of  blue 
limestone  beds,  containing  an  abundance  of  the  marine 


Collected  by  Captain  Allen  Young. 


384  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

shells  commonly  found  in  all  parts  of  the  world  where 
the  carboniferous  deposits  are  at  all  developed.  The 
line  of  junction  of  these  deposits  with  the  Silurians  on 
which  they  rest  is  N.E.  to  E.KE.  (true).  Like  the 
former  they  occur  in  low  flat  beds,  sometimes  rising 
into  cliffs,  but  never  reaching  the  elevation  attained 
by  the  Silurian  rocks  in  Lancaster  Sound. 

The  following  lists  contain  the  principal  fossils  and 
specimens  presented  to  the  Eoyal  Dublin  Society  by 
Captain  M'Clintock  and  by  Captain  Sir  Eobert 
M'Clure. 

Coal,  sandstone,  clay  ironstone,  and  brown  hematite,  were  found 
along  a  line  stretching  E.N.E.  from  Baring  Island,  through  the 
south  of  Melville  Island,  Byam  Martin's  Island,  and  the  whole  of 
Bathurst  Island.  Carboniferous  limestone,  with  characteristic 
fossils,  was  found  along  the  north  coast  of  Bathurst  Island,  and  at 
Hillock  Point,  Melville  Island. 

I  have  marked  on  the  map  the  coal-beds  of  the  Parry 
Islands,  which  appear  to  be  prolonged  into  Baring 
Island,  as  observed  by  Captain  M'Clure.  The  discovery 
of  coal  in  these  islands  is  due  to  Parry,  but  the  evidence 
of  the  extent  and  quantity  in  which  it  may  be  found 
was  obtained  during  the  expeditions  of  Austin  and 
Belcher.  In  addition  to  the  localities  surveyed  by  him- 
self, Captain  M'Clintock  has  given  me  specimens  of  the 
coal  found  at  other  places  by  other  explorers ;  and  it  is 
from  a  comparison  of  all  these  specimens  that  I  have 
ventured  to  lay  down  the  outcrop  of  the  coal-beds,  which 
agrees  remarkably  well  with  the  boundary  of  the  forma- 
tions laid  down  from  totally  different  data. 

No.  I.    HILLOCK  POINT,  Melville    Island   (Lat.  76°  N. ;    Long. 
111°  45'  W.). 
Productus  sulcatus.    Journ.  K.  D.  S.,  Vol,  I.  PI.  VII.  Figs,  1,  2,  3, 4, 7. 
Spirifer  Arcticus.     Journ.  B.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  IX. 

No.  II.   BATHUEST  ISLAND,  North  Coast,  Cape  Lady  Franklin  (?) 
(Lat.  76°  40'  N. ;  Long.  98°  45'  W.). 
Spirifer  Arcticus.     Journ.  K.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PL  IX.  Fig.  1. 
Lithostrotion  basa Itiforme. 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  385 

*No.  III.  BALLAST  BEACH,  Baring  Island  (Lat.  74°  30'  N. ;  Long 
121°  W.). 

1.  "Wood  fossilized  by  brown  hematite ;  structure  quite  distinct. 

2.  Cone  of  the  spruce  fir,  fossilized  by  brown  hematite. 

No.  IV.  PRINCESS  ROYAL  ISLANDS,  Prince  of  Wales'   Strait, 
Baring  Island  (Lat.  72°  45'  N. ;  Long.  117°  30'  W.). 

1.  Nodules  of  clay  ironstone,  converted  partially  into  brown  hematite. 

2.  Native  copper  in  large  masses,  procured  from  the  Esquimaux  in 

Prince  of  Wales'  Strait. 

3.  Brown  iiematite,  pisolitic. 

4.  Greyish-yellow  sandstone,   same  as  Cape   Hamilton  and  Byam 

Martin's  Island. 

5.  Terebratula  aspera  (Schlotheim).     Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  XI. 

Fig.  4. 

This  interesting  bracliiopod  was  found  in  limestone 
by  Captain  M'Clure,  at  the  Princess  Koyal  Islands,  in 
the  Prince  of  Wales'  Strait,  between  Baring  Island  and 
Prince  Albert  Land.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  pro- 
nouncing it  to  be  identical  with  Schlotheim's  fossil, 
which  is  found  in  the  greatest  abundance  at  Gerolstein, 
in  the  Eifel.  Banks'  Land,  or  Baring  Island,  is  com- 
posed of  sandstone,  similar  to  that  at  Byam  Martin's 
Island,  and  at  the  Bay  of  Mercy.  This  sandstone  con- 
tains beds  of  coal,  apparently  the  continuation  of  the 
well-known  coal-beds  of  Melville  Island.  It  is  a  re- 
markable fact,  that  these  carboniferous  sandstones 
underlie  beds  of  undoubtedly  the  carboniferous  lime- 
stone type,  and  that  at  Byam  Martin's  Island,  where 
fossils  are  found  in  this  sandstone,  they  are  allied  to 
Atrypa  fallax  and  other  forms  characteristic  of  the 
lower  sandstones  of  the  carboniferous  epoch.  It  is, 
therefore,  highly  probable  that  the  coal-beds  of  Melville 
Island  are  very  low  down  in  the  series,  and  do  not 
correspond  in  geological  position  with  the  coal-beds  of 
Europe,  which  rest  on  the  summit  of  the  carboniferous 
beds.     It  is  interesting  to  find  at  Princess  Koyal  Island, 


*  These  specimens  are  ''■Drift,''  but  are  mentioned  here,  as  they 
were  found  on  the  carboniferous  sandstone  area. 

2  c 


386  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

where,  from  the  general  strike  of  the  beds,  we  should 
expect  to  find  the  Silurian  limestone  underlying  the 
coal-bearing  sandstones,  that  this  limestone  does  occur, 
and  contains  a  fossil,  T.  aspera,  eminently  characteristic 
of  the  Eifelian  beds  of  Germany,  which  form,  in  that 
country,  the  Upper  Silurian  strata. 

No.  V.  CAPE   HAMILTON,  Baring  Island  (Lat.  74°  15'  N. ;  Long. 
117°  30'  W.). 

1.  Greyish-yellow  sandstone,  like  that  found  in  situ  in  Byam  Martin's 

Island. 

2.  Coal. — The    coal  found  in  the   Arctic  regions,   excepting  that 

brought  from  Disco  Island,  "West  Greenland,  winch  is  of  tertiary 
origin,  presents  everywhere  the  same  characters",  which  are  some- 
what remarkable.  It  is  of  a  brownish  colour  and  lignaceous 
texture,  in  fine  layers  of  brown  coal  and  jet-black  glossy  coal 
interstratified  in  delicate  bands  not  thicker  than  paper.  It  has 
a  woody  ring  under  the  hammer,  recalling  the  peculiar  clink  of 
some  of  the  valuable  gas  coals  of  Scotland.  It  burns  with  a 
dense  smoke  and  brilliant  flame,  and  would  make  an  excellent 
gas  coal ;  and,  in  fact,  it  resembles  in  many  respects  some 
varieties  of  the  coal  which  has  acquired  such  celebrity  in  the 
Scotch  and  Prussian  law-courts,  under  the  title  of  the  Torbane 
Hill  mineral. 

No.  VI.    CAPE  DUNDAS,  Melvjlle  Island  (Lat.  74°  30'  N. ;  Long 
113°  45' W.). 
Fine  specimens  of  coal. 

No.  VII.  CAPE  SIE  JAMES  EOSS,  Melville  Island  (Lat.  74°  45'  N. ; 
Long.  114°  30'  W.). 
Sandstone  passing  into  blue  quartzite. 

No.  VIII.  CAPE  PKOVIDENCE,  Melville  Island  (Lat.  74°  20'  N.  I 
Long.  112°  30'  W.). 

A  specimen  of  crinoidal  limestone,  apparently  similar  to  that  oc- 
curring in  Griffith's  Island,  from  which,  however,  it  could  not 
have  been  brought  by  the  present  drift  of  the  floating  ice,  as  the 
set  of  the  currents  is  constant  from  the  west.  If  brought  to  its 
present  position  by  ice,  it  must  have  been  under  circumstances 
differing  considerably  from  those  now  prevailing  in  Barrow's 
Strait. 

Yellowish-grey  sandstone. 

Clay  ironstone  passing  into  pisolitic  hematite. 

No.  IX.   WINTEE  HAEBOUE,  Melville  Island  (Lat.  74°  35'   N. ; 
Long.  110°  45'  W.). 
Fine  yellow  and  grey  sandstone. 


Xo.  IV.  APPENDIX.  387 

Xo.  X.   BRLDPORT   INLET,  Melville  Island  (Lat.  75°  X. ;  Long. 

109°  W.). 

Coal,  with  impressions  of  Splienopteris. 

Ferruginous  spotted  white  sandstone. 

Clay  ironstone,  passing  into  brown  hematite. 

Xo.  XI.  SKENE  BAY,  Melville  Island  (Lat.  75°  X. ;  Long.  108°  W.). 
Bituminous  coal,  with  finely  divided  laminae,  associated  with  brown 
crystalline  limestone,  with  cherty  beds,  and  grey-yellowish  sand- 
stone, passing  into  brownish-red  sandstone. 

* 

Xo.  XII.   HOOPER  ISLAXD,  Liddon's  Gulf,  Melville  Island  (Lat. 
75°  5'  X. ;  Long.  112°  W.). 
Nodules  of  clay  ironstone,  very  pure  and  heavy,  associated  with 
ferruginous  fine  sandstone  and  coal  of  the  usual  description. 

The  hill-tops  and  sides  along  the  south  shore  of 
Liddon's  Gulf,  and  as  far  as  Cape  Dundas,  are  gene- 
rally bare,  composed  of  frozen  mud,  arising  from  the 
disintegration  of  shale,  the  annual  dissolving  snows 
washing  them  down  and  giving  them  a  rounded  form. 
The  southern  slopes  generally  support  vegetation. 
Fragments  of  coal  are  very  frequently  met  with,  and 
at  the  mouth  of  a  ravine  on  the  south  shore  of  Liddon's 
Gulf  there  is  abundance,  of  very  good  quality ;  it  con- 
tains a  considerable  quantity  of  pyrites  or  bisulphuret  of 
iron. 

Xo.  XIII.  BYAM   MARTIXS   ISLAXD    (Lat.  75°  10'  X. ;  Long. 
104°  15'  W.). 
Yellowish-grey  sandstone,  in   situ,  containing   a  ribbed  Atrypa, 

allied  to  the  A.  primipilaris  of  V.  Buch,  and  the  A.fallax  of  the 

carboniferous  rocks  of  Ireland. 
Reddish  limestone,  with  broken  fragments  of  shells,  of  the  same 

description  of  brachiopod  as  the  last. 
Coal  of  the  usual  description. 
Fine-grained  red  sandstone,  passing  into  red  slate. 
Scoriaceous  hornblendic  trap  (boulders). 

The  sandstone  of  By  am  Martin's  Island  is  of  two 
kinds — one  red,  finely  stratified,  passing  into  purple 
slate,  and  very  like  the  red  sandstone  of  Cape  Bunny, 
North  Somerset,  and  some  varieties  of  the  red  sandstone 
and    slate    found    between  Wolstenholme    Sound    and 

2   C  2 


388  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

Whale  Sound,  West  Greenland,  lat.  77°  M.  The 
other  sandstone  of  Byam  Martin's  Island  is  fine,  pale- 
greenish,  or  rather  greyish-yellow,  and  not  distinguish- 
able in  hand  specimens  from  the  sandstone  of  Cape 
Hamilton,  Baring  Island.  It  contains  numerous  shells 
and  casts  of  a  terebratuliform  brachiopod,  closely  allied 
to  the  Terebratula  primipilaris  of  Von  Buch,  found 
abundantly  at  Gerolstein  in  the  Eifel.  On  the  whole, 
I  incline  to  the  opinion  that  the  sandstones,  limestone, 
and  coal  of  Byam  Martin's  Island,  and  the  corresponding 
rocks  of  Melville  Island,  Baring  Island,  and  Bathurst 
Island,  are  low  down  in  the  Carboniferous  System,  and 
that  there  is  in  these  northern  coal-fields  no  subdivision 
into  red  sandstone,  limestone,  and  coal-measures,  such 
as  prevail  in  the  west  of  Europe.  If  the  different 
points  where  coal  was  found  be  laid  down  on  a  map,  we 
have  in  order,  proceeding  from  the  south-west — Cape 
Hamilton,  Baring  Island ;  Cape  Dundas,  Melville 
Island,  south ;  Bridport  Inlet  and  Skene  Bay,  Melville 
Island ;  Schomberg  Point,  Graham  Moore  Bay,  Bathurst 
Island ;  a  line  joining  all  these  points  is  the  outcrop  of 
the  coal-beds  of  the  south  of  Melville  Island,  and  runs 
E.N.E.  At  all  the  localities  above  mentioned,  and, 
indeed,  in  every  place  where  coal  was  found,  it  was 
accompanied  by  the  greyish-yellow  and  yellow  sandstone 
already  described,  and  by  nodules  of  clay  ironstone, 
passing  into  brown  hematite,  sometimes  nodular  and 
sometimes  pisolitic  in  structure. 

No.  XIV.   GEAHAM  MOORE'S  BAY,  Bathurst  Island   (Lat.  75° 
30'  N. ;   Long.  102°  W.). 
Coal  of  the  usual  quality. 

At  Cape  Lady  Franklin,  and  at  many  other  localities 
along  the  north  shore  of  Bathurst  Island,  carboniferous 
fossils  in  limestone,  clay  ironstone  balls  passing  into 
brown  hematite,  cherty  limestone,  and  earthy  fossili- 
ferous  limestone,  with  the  same  species  of  Atrypa  as  at 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  389 

Byam  Martin's  Island,  were  found  in  abundance  by 
Sherard  Osborn,  Esq.,  Commander  of  H.M.S.  '  Pioneer,' 
in  whose  journal  the  following  note  respecting  them 
may  be  found  : — 

"  The  above  collection  was  delivered  over  to  Captain 
Sir  Edward  Belcher,  C.B.,  by  Commander  Kichards,  at 
2  p.m.,  on  7th  Nov.  1853."* 

It  is  to  -be  hoped  that  they  may  soon  be  made  avail- 
able for  the  elucidation  of  the  geology  of  this  most 
interesting  portion  of  the  Arctic  discoveries. 

No.  XV.   BATHUEST  ISLAND,  Bedford  Bay  (Lat.  75°  N. ;  Long. 

95°  50'  W.). 

In  this  locality  abundance  of  vesicular  scoriaceous  trap  rocks 

were  found  by  Captain  M'Clintock ;  they  appear  to  me  to  be  the 

representatives   of  the  volcanic  rocks  found  everywhere  at  the 

commencement  of  the  carboniferous  period. 

No.  XVI.   COKNWALLIS  ISLAND,  M'Dougall  Bay. 

1.  Syringopora  geniculata.     Journ.  B.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  XI.  Fig.  2. 

2.  Cardiola  Salteri.    Journ.  K.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  VII.  Fig.  5. 

The  Syringopore  found  at  Cornwallis  Island  appears 
to  be  identical  with  the  variety  of  the  Irish  carbonife- 
rous tS.  geniculata,*  in  which  the  corallites  are  at  a  distance 
from  each  other  somewhat  exceeding  their  diameters, 
and  in  which  the  connecting  tubes  are  about  two  dia- 
meters apart. 

A  question  of  very  considerable  geological  interest  is 
raised  by  the  occurrence  together  of  corals,  in  the  same 
locality,  of  silurian  and  carboniferous  forms. 

I  entertain  no  doubt  of  their  being  in  situ,  and  occur- 
ring in  the  same  beds,  for  the  following  reasons  :—- 

1st.  The  Syringopores  of  Griffith's  Island  were  found 
at  an  elevation  of  400  feet  above  the  sea,  and,  there- 
fore, could  not  be  brought  by  drifting  ice. 

2nd.  The  specimens  were  apparently  of  the  same 
texture  and  composition  as  the  native  rock,  whenever 
the  latter  was  visible 'from  under  the  snow. 


*   Vide  Arctic  Expeditions,  1854-55,  p.  254. 


390  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

3rd.  I  do  not  believe  in  the  lapse  of  a  long  interval 
of  time  between  the  silurian  and  carboniferous  depo- 
sits,— in  fact,  in  a  Devonian  period. 

4th.  The  same  blending  of  corals  has  been  found  in 
Ireland,  the  Bas  Boulonnais,  and  in  Devonshire,  where 
silurian  and  carboniferous  forms  are  of  common  occur- 
rence in  the  same  localities. 

5th.  In  the  carboniferous  beds  proper  of  Melville 
Island  and  Bathurst  Island,  there  were  not  found,  so 
far  as  I  am  aware,  any  corals  of  the  same  character  as 
those  at  Griffith's  Island,  Cornwallis  Island,  and  Beechey 
Island,  which  could  give  a  supply  to  be  drifted  to  the 
latter  localities  in  a  Pleistocene  sea.  It  is  plain,  from 
the  height  at  which  the  corals  were  found,  that,  if  they 
were  brought  to  their  present  localities  by  ice,  it  must 
have  been  during  the  period  known  as  Post-tertiary, 
as  the  present  conditions  of  drift-ice  in  Barrow's  Straits 
do  not  permit  us  to  suppose  them  to  have  been  placed 
where  we  now  find  them  by  existing  causes. 

The  occurrence  of  coal-beds  in  such  high  latitudes 
has  been  speculated  on  by  many  geologists — in  my 
opinion,  not  very  satisfactorily;  as  it  is  very  difficult 
to  conceive  how,  even  if  the  question  of  temperature 
were  settled,  plants  even  of  the  fern  and  lycopodium 
type  could  exist  during  the  darkness  of  the  long  winter's 
night  at  Melville  Island.  This  difficulty  is  increased 
by  the  facts  made  known  to  us  by  the  discovery  of 
ammonites  and  lias  fossils  in  Prince  Patrick's  Island  by 
Captain  M'Clintock. 

IY. — The  Lias  Rocks. 

Many  years  ago  it  was  asserted  by  Lieutenant  Anjou, 
of  the  Russian  navy,  that  ammonites  had  been  found 
by  him  in  the  cliffs  on  the  south  shore  of  the  island  of 
New  Siberia,  off  the  north  coast  of  Asia,  in  lat.  71°  N. 
This  statement,  which  was  published  in  Admiral  Yon 
WrangePs  journal,  attracted  but  little  attention,  until 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  391 

it  was  confirmed,  as  far  as  probability  of  such  fossils 
occurring  at  so  high  a  latitude  is  concerned,  by  the 
remarkable  discovery  of  similar  fossils  by  Captain 
M'Clintock,  in  lat.  76°  20'  K,  at  Point  Wilkie,  in 
Prince  Patrick's  Island. 

In  a  paper,  published  by  the  Royal  Dublin  Society, 
in  the  first  volume  of  their  journal,  p.  223,  Captain 
M'Clintock  thus  describes  the  finding  of  these  fossils  : — 

"  After  returning  to  Cape  de  Bray,  we  took  up  the 
provisions  that  the  officer  after  whom  it  is  called  had 
left  for  us,  and  crossed  the  strait  to  Point  Wilkie ; 
reached  it  on  the  14th  May.  This  traverse  was  the 
more  difficult  from  the  great  load  upon  our  sledge,  and 
the  unfavourable  state  of  the  ice  and  snow.  The  freshly 
fallen  snow  was  soft  and  deep,  and  beneath  it  the  older 
snow  lay  in  furrows  across  our  route,  hardened  and 
polished  by  the  winter  gales  and  drifts,  so  that  it  re- 
sembled marble. 

"  On  landing  I  found  the  beach  low,  composed  of 
mud,  with  the  foot-prints  of  animals  frozen  in  it.  A 
few  hundred  yards  from  the  beach  there  are  steep  hills, 
about  150  feet  in  height,  and  upon  the  sides  of  these, 
in  reddish-coloured  limestone,  casts  of  fossil  shells 
abound.  Inland  of  these,  the  ordinary  pale  carbonife- 
rous sandstone  and  cherty  limestone  reappeared.  The 
fossils  are  all  small,  and  of  only  a  few  varieties,  some 
being  ammonites,  but  the  greater  part  bivalves.  They 
differed  from  any  I  had  met  with  before,  and  the  rock 
was  almost  brick-red;  I  picked  up  what  appeared  to 
be  fossil  bone  {Ichthyosaurus  ?),  only  part  of  it  appear- 
ing out  of  the  fragment  of  the  rock. 

"  Point  Wilkie  appears  to  be  an  isolated  patch  of  lias- 
sic  age,  resting  upon  carboniferous  sandstones  and  lime- 
stones, with  bands  of  chert,  of  the  same  age  as  the  lime- 
stones and  sandstones  of  Melville  Island.  The  eastern 
shore  of  Intrepid  Inlet  is  composed  of  this  formation  ; 
while  the  western,  rising  into  hills  and  terraces,  is  of 


392 


APPENDIX. 


No.  IV. 


the  underlying  carboniferous  epoch.  At  the  western 
side  of  Intrepid  Inlet  I  found  upon  the  ice  a  consider- 
able quantity  of  white  asbestos,  but  did  not  ascertain 
from  whence  it  had  been  brought." 

The  fossils  thus  found  in  situ,  I  have  no  doubt,  belong- 
to  the  liassic  period ;  and  as  their  geological  interest  is 
indubitable,  I  offer  no  apology  for  inserting  here  the 
following  description,  written  by  me  on  Captain  M'Clin- 
tock's  return  to  Dublin  from  his  third  Arctic  expedition. 

No.  I.  WILKIE  POINT,   Prince  Patrick's  Land   (Lat.  76°  20'  N. ; 
Long.  117°  20'  W.). 

LIAS  FOSSILS. 

(a)  Ammonites  M'CUntocM.    Journ.  E.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  IX.  Figs.  2,  3, 4. 

Monotis  septentrionalis.    Journ.  E.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  IX.  Figs.  6,  7- 

Pleurotomaria,  sp.     Journ.  E.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  IX.  Fig.  8. 

Cast  of  some  Univalve.    Journ.  E.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  IX.  Fig.  7. 

Nucula,  sp. 
{a)  Ammonites  M'Clintocki  (Haughton). — Testa  compressd,  carinatd, 
anfractibus  latis,  lateribus  complanatis,  transversim  undato-costatis ;  costis 
simplicibus,  juxtd  marginem  interiorem  levigatis  ;  dorso  carinato  acuto  ; 
aperturd  sagittatd,  compressd,  antice  carinatd ;  septis  lateribus  4:-lobatis. 

This  fine  ammonite  resembles  several  species  common 
in  the  upper  lias  of  the  Plateau  de  Larzac,  Sevennes, 
in  France.  It  approaches  A.  concavus  of  the  lower 
Oolite,  but  is  distinguished  by  having  only  four  lobes 
on  the  lateral  margins  of  the  septa,  and  by  its  showing- 
no  tendency  to  a  tricarinated  keel.  The  following- 
measurements  give  an  exact  idea  of  its  form,  as  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  species  mentioned : — 


Diameter. 
Inches. 

Width  of  last 

Spire. 
Diam.=100. 

Thickness 
of  last 
Spire. 

Overlapping 
of  last 
Spire. 

Width 

of 
Umbilic. 

A.  M'Clintocki. 
A.  concavus 

1-83 
2^95 

51 

Too 

T%o 

24 

Too 

24 

Too 

20 
TOO 

19 

Too 

20 
100 

16 
TOO 

The  principal  difference  here  observable  is  in  the 
somewhat  greater  size  of  A.  concavus,  and  the  larger 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  393 

umbilic  of  A.  M'  Clintochi.  It  certainly  resembles  this 
well-known  ammonite  very  closely ;  and  it  appears  to 
me  difficult  to  imagine  the  possibility  of  such  a  fossil 
living  in  a  frozen,  or  even  a  temperate  sea. 

The  discovery  of  such  fossils  in  situ,  in  76°  north 
latitude,  is  calculated  to  throw  considerable  doubt  upon 
the  theories  of  climate  which  would  account  for  all  past 
changes  of  temperature  by  changes  in  the  relative  posi- 
tion of  land  and  water  on  the  earth's  surface.  No 
attempt,  that  I  am  aware  of,  has  ever  been  made  to 
calculate  the  number  of  degrees  of  change  possible  in 
consequence  of  changes  of  position  of  land  and  water ; 
and  from  some  incomplete  calculations  I  have  myself 
made  on  the  subject,  I  think  it  highly  improbable  that 
such  causes  could  have  ever  produced  a  temperature  in 
the  sea  at  76°  north  latitude  which  would  allow  of  the 
existence  of  ammonites,  especially  ammonites  so  like 
those  that  lived  at  the  same  time  in  the  tropical  warm 
seas  of  the  south  of  England  and  France,  at  the  close 
of  the  Liassic,  and  commencement  of  the  lower  Oolitic 
period. 

During  the  course  of  the  same  Arctic  expedition  in 
which  these  organic  remains  were  found,  Captain  Sir 
Edward  Belcher  discovered  in  some  loose  rubble,  of 
which  a  cairn  was  built  on  Exmouth  Island  (lat.  77° 
12'  N.,  long.  96°  W.),  vertebral  bones  of,  apparently, 
some  liassic  enaliosaurian.  All  doubt  as  to  the  reality 
of  this  discovery,  and  all  idea  of  accounting  for  the 
occurrence  of  such  remains  by  drift,  must  be  abandoned, 
as  the  fossils  found  by  M'Clintock  were  unquestionably 
in  situ,  and  it  is  impossible  to  evade  the  consequences 
that  follow  to  geological  theory  from  their  discovery. 

Captain  Sherard  Osborn,  also,  found  broken  ver- 
tebrae of  an  ichthyosaurus,  150  feet  up  Rendezvous  Hill, 
the  north-west  extreme  of  Bathurst  Island :  of  these 
specimens,  one  lay  among  a  mass  of  stone  that  had 
slipped  from  the  N.W.  face  of  the  hill ;  the  other  was 


394  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

by  the  side  of  a  ravine  or  deep  watercourse  on  the 
southern  face  of  the  same  elevation.  I  have  no  doubt 
but  that  they  were  in  situ. 

I  am  well  aware  that  the  question  of  light  in  the 
Arctic  seas  will  be  disposed  of  by  some  geologists,  who 
will  remind  us  that  the  saurians,  and  probably  the 
ammonites,  were  endowed  with  a  complicated  optical 
apparatus,  rendering  them  capable  of  using  their  eyes, 
not  only  for  the  distinct  vision  of  objects  differing 
greatly  in  distance,  but  also  of  using  them,  under  widely 
differing  conditions  of  light  and  darkness;  and  I  readily 
admit  the  force  of  such  observations. 

But  what  are  we  to  say  as  to  the  question  of  tem- 
perature ?  It  was  certainly  necessary  for  an  ammonite 
to  have  a  sea  free  from  ice,  on  which  to  float  and  bask 
in  the  pale  rays  of  the  Arctic  sun  ;  and  therefore  I 
claim  a  temperature  for  those  seas,  at  least  similar  to 
that  which  now  prevails  in  the  British  Islands :  and 
I  may  add  that  the  ammonite,  from  its  habits,  was 
essentially  dependent  on  the  temperature  of  the  air,  as 
well  as  on  that  of  the  water. 

There  is  at  present  a  difference  of  49°*5  F.  between 
the  mean  annual  temperature  of  Point  Wilkie  and 
Dublin  ;  and  if  this  change  of  temperature  be  supposed 
to  be  caused  by  a  change  of  the  relative  positions  of 
land  and  water,  the  temperature  of  Dublin,  or  of  some 
place  on  the  same  parallel  of  latitude,  must  be  supposed 
to  be  raised  to  99°*5  F. ;  while  the  temperature  of  the 
thermal  equator  will  exceed  124° — a  temperature  only 
a  few  degrees  below  that  requisite  to  boil  an  egg !  I 
reject,  without  scruple,  a  theory  that  requires  such  a 
result,  which  must  be  considered  as  a  minimum  ;  as  it 
is  probable  that  the  ammonite  required  a  finer  climate 
than  that  of  Britain  for  the  full  enjoyment  of  his  exist- 
ence. 

The  theory  of  central  heat,  also,  appears  to  me  to  be 
open  to  the  same  objection,  as  a  mode  of  explaining 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  395 

this  remarkable  geological  fact ;  for  it  will  simply  add 
a  constant  to  onr  present  climates,  leaving  the  differ- 
ences to  remain,  as  at  present,  to  be  accounted  for  by 
latitude  and  distribution  of  land  and  water.  The  astro- 
nomical theory  of  Herschel,  also,  which  would  account 
for  former  changes  of  climate  by  changes  in  the 
radiating  power  of  the  sun,  would  only  increase  the 
temperature  at  each  latitude,  leaving  the  differences  as 
at  present. 

The  only  speculation  with  which  I  am  acquainted, 
which  is  capable  of  solving  this  opprobrium  geologicorum, 
is  the  hypothesis  of  a  change  in  the  axis  of  rotation 
of  the  earth,  the  admission  of  which,  as  a  geological 
possibility,  is  mathematically  demonstrable,  and  which 
has  recently  had  some  singular  evidence  in  its  favour 
advanced  by  geologists.  In  1851  I  brought  forward, 
at  the  Geological  Society  of  Dublin,  a  case  of  angular 
fragments  of  granite  occurring  in  the  carboniferous 
limestone  of  the  County  Dublin ;  and  explained  the 
phenomena  by  the  supposition  of  the  transporting 
power  of  ice.  In  1855  Professor  Kamsay  laid  before 
the  Geological  Society  of  London  a  full  and  detailed 
theory  of  glaciers  and  ice  as  agents  concerned  in  the 
formation  of  a  remarkable  breccia,  of  Permian  age, 
occurring  in  the  central  counties  of  England ;  and  still 
more  recently  the  same  agent  has  been  employed  by 
the  geological  surveyors  of  India  to  account  for  the 
transport  of  materials  at  geological  periods  long  ante- 
cedent to  those  in  which  ice  transport  is  commonly 
supposed  to  have  commenced.  The  motion  of  the 
earth's  axis  would  reconcile  all  the  facts  known,  and 
it  must  be  regarded  as  a  geological  desideratum  to 
determine  its  amount  and  direction,  and  to  assign  the 
cause  of  such  a  movement.  The  solution  of  this  pro- 
blem I  regard  as  quite  possible. 

It  is  well  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  arguments  from 
the  occurrence  of  coal-plants  and  ammonites  strengthen 


396  APPENDIX  No.  IV. 

each  other;  the  coal-plants  rendering  the  question  of 
light,  and  the  ammonites  that  of  heat,  insuperable 
objections  to  the  admission  of  any  received  geological 
hypothesis  to  account  for  the  finding  of  such  remains, 
in  situ,  in  latitudes  so  high  as  those  of  Melville  Island, 
Prince  Patrick's  Island,  and  Exmouth  Island. 

V. —  The  Superficial  Deposits. 
The  surface  of  the  ground,  where  exposed,  through- 
out the  Arctic  Archipelago,  does  not  appear  to  be 
covered  with  thick  deposits  of  clay  or  gravel,  such  as 
are  found  generally  in  the  north  of  Europe,  and  re- 
ferred by  geologists  to  what  they  call  "  the  Glacial 
Epoch."  There  are  not,  however,  wanting  abundant 
evidences  of  the  transport  of  drift  materials,  and  there 
is  some  good  evidence,  collected  by  Captain  M'Clintock, 
of  the  direction  in  which  the  drift  was  moved. 
^  Specimens  of  granite,  which  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
referring  to  the  characteristic  granite  of  the  west  side 
of  North  Somerset,  were  found  at  Leopold  Harbour 
(North  Somerset)  and  at  Graham  Moore  Bay  (Bathurst 
Island)  ;  one  of  these  localities  is  N.E.  and  the  other 
N.W.  of  the  granite  of  North  Somerset,  from  which  I 
infer  that  there  was  no  constant  prevailing  direction 
for  the  drift  ice  that  carried  these  boulders,  but  that 
they  were  transported  to  the  northward  in  various 
directions,  according  to  the  varying  motion  of  the 
currents  that  moved  the  ice.  The  boulder  of  granite  at 
Port  Leopold  is  100  miles  N.E.  of  the  granite  which 
gave  origin  to  it;  and  the  specimens  from  Graham 
Moore  Bay  are  190  miles  to  the  N.W.  of  their  source. 

At  Cape  Kennell  (North  Somerset),  in  a  direction 
intermediate  between  the  two  former  directions,  a  re- 
markable boulder  of  the  same  granite  was  found,  con- 
firming the  general  direction  of  the  transporting  force 
from  south  to  north.  Its  position  and  size  are  thus 
recorded  by  Captain  M'Clintock  : — "  Near  Cape  Kennell 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  397 

we  passed  a  very  remarkable  rounded  boulder  of  gneiss 
or  granite  ;  it  was  6  yards  in  circumference,  and  stood 
near  the  beach,  and  some  15  or  20  yards  above  it ;  one 
or  two  masses  of  rounded  gneiss,  although  very  much 
smaller,  had  arrested  our  attention  at  Port  Leopold." 

It  is  well  known  that  Captain  Sir  Robert  M'Clure 
brought  home  specimens  of  pine-trees  found  in  the 
greatest  abundance  in  the  ravines  on  the  west  coast  of 
Baring  Island ;  one  of  his  specimens  preserved  in  the 
museum  of  the  Royal  Dublin  Society  measm^es  15 
inches  by  12  inches,  and  contains  three  knots  that 
prove  it  formed  a  portion  of  the  stem  high  above  its 
root.  The  bark  is  not  found  on  this  specimen,  which 
does  not  represent  the  full  thickness  of  the  tree ;  I 
have  estimated  that  this  fragment  contains  70  rings  of 
annual  growth. 

Similar  remains  were  found  by  Captain  M'Clintock 
and  Lieutenant  Mecham  in  Prince  Patrick's  Island, 
and  in  Wellington  Channel  by  Sir  Edward  Belcher. 
On  the  coast  of  New  Siberia,  Lieutenant  Anjou  found 
a  clay  cliff  containing  stems  of  trees  still  capable  of 
being  used  as  fuel.  The  original  observers  all  agree  in 
thinking  that  these  trees  grew  where  they  are  now 
found  ;  and  Captain  Osbom,  in  mentioning  Sir  Roderick 
I.  Murchison's  opinion  that  they  are  drift  timber,  justly 
adds  the  remark,  that  a  sea  sufficiently  free  from  ice 
to  allow  of  their  being  drifted  from  the  south  would 
indicate  also  a  climate  sufficiently  mild  to  allow  of  their 
having  grown  upon  the  land  where  they  now  occur. 
Mr.  Hopkins,  in  his  anniversary  address  as  President 
of  the  Geological  Society  of  London,  has  published  a 
remarkable  geological  speculation,  which  would  account 
for  the  facts  above  mentioned.*  So  far  as  the  evidence 
of  drift  boulders  is  concerned,  I  have  shown  that  the 


*  Joum.  Geol.  Soc.  Lond.,  vol.  VIII.  p.  lxiv. 


398  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

direction  of  the  currents  was  from  the  sonth ;  a  fact 
which  falls  in  with  the  drift  theory,  so  far  as  it  goes. 

We  cannot,  however,  dissociate  these  trees  from  the 
facts  connected  with  the  distribution  of  the  remains  of 
the  Siberian  Mammoth  in  Asia  and  America.  It  is 
now  known  that  this  elephant  was  provided  with  a 
warm  fur,  and  that  his  food  was  of  a  kind  which  grows 
even  now  in  Northern  Siberia ;  so  that  the  drift  theory, 
which  was  formerly  supposed  necessary  to  account  for 
the  occurrence  of  these  remains,  has  now  been  quietly 
dropped,  sub  silentio,  by  the  geologists.  Many  other 
drift  theories  have,  in  like  manner,  lived  their  short  day, 
and  gone  the  way  of  all  false  hypotheses  ;  among  others, 
the  drift  theory  of  the  origin  of  coal.  Further  inves- 
tigation may  show  that  the  glacial  epoch  of  Europe  was 
one  of  a  very  different  character  in  Asia  and  America, 
and  that,  while  glaciers  clothed  the  sides  of  Snowdon  and 
Lugnaquillia,  pine  forests  flourished  in  the  Parry  Is- 
lands, and  the  Siberian  elephants  wandered  on  the 
shores  of  a  sea  washed  by  the  waves  of  an  ocean  that 
carried  no  drifting  ice. 

There  is  abundant  evidence,  however,  that  the  Arctic 
Archipelago  was  submerged  in  very  recent  geological 
periods ;  for  we  know  that  subfossil  shells,  of  species 
that  now  inhabit  the  waters  of  the  neighbouring  seas, 
are  found  at  considerable  heights  throughout  the  whole 
group  of  islands.  M'Clure  found  shells  of  the  Cyprina 
Islandica  at  the  summit  of  the  Coxcomb  range,  in 
Baring  Island,  at  an  elevation  of  500  feet  above  the 
sea-level ;  Captain  Parry,  also,  has  recorded  the  occur- 
rence of  Venus  (probably  Cyprina  Islandica)  on  Byam 
Martin's  Island ;  and  in  the  recent  voyage  of  the  '  Fox,' 
Dr.  Walker,  the  surgeon  of  the  expedition,  found  the 
following  subfossil  shells  at  Port  Kenedy,  at  elevations 
of  from  100  to  500  feet :— 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  399 

1.  Saxicava  rugosa. 
2    Tellina  proximo,. 

3.  Astarte  Arctica  (Borealis). 

4.  My  a  Uddevallensis. 

5.  My  a  truncata. 

6.  Cardium  sp. 

7.  Buccinum  undatum. 

8.  Acmea  testudinalis. 

9.  Balanus  Uddevallensis. 

At  the*sanie  place  a  portion  of  the  palate-bone  of  a 
whale  (Eight  Whale)  was  found  at  an  elevation  of 
150  feet. 

All  these  facts  indicate  the  former  submergence  of 
the  Arctic  Archipelago,  but  this  submergence  must 
have  been  anterior  to  the  period  when  pine  forests 
clothed  the  low  sandy  shores  of  the  slowly  emerging 
islands,  the  remains  of  wrhich  forests  now  occupy  a 
position  at  least  100  feet  above  high- water  mark. 

The  geological  map  which  I  am  enabled  to  publish 
from  the  data  collected  by  Captains  M'Clintock,  M'Clure, 
Osborn,  &c,  is  an  enlargement  of  that  which  was  pub- 
lished in  1857  by  the  Koyal  Society  of  Dublin,  to 
illustrate  the  fine  collection  of  Arctic  fossils  and  mine- 
rals deposited  in  the  museum  of  that  body  by  Captains 
M'Clintock  and  M'Clure.  In  perfecting  it  for  its  pre- 
sent purpose  I  have  availed  myself  of  all  the  other 
sources  of  information  within  my  reach,  among  which 
I  am  bound  to  mention  in  particular  the  excellent 
Appendix  to  Dr.  Sutherland's  'Voyage  of  the  Lady 
Franklin  and  Sophia,'  written  by  Mr.  Salter,  Palaeon- 
tologist of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Great  Britain. 

Many  of  the  mineral  specimens  from  Greenland,  and 
the  fossils  from  Cape  Kiley,  Cape  Farrand,  Point  Fury, 
and  Brentford  Bay,  were  collected  by  Dr.  David  Walker, 
surgeon  and  naturalist  to  the  '  Fox '  Expedition. 


400 


APPENDIX. 


No.    V. 


No.  V. 


LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS  TO  THE  'FOX'  EXPEDITION. 


ACLAND,  Sir  T.  D.,  Bart.     ..    100 

Adams,  Dr.  Walter,  Edinburgh  3 

Aldrich,  Captain,  R.N 1 

Allan,  Rob.  M.,  Esq 1 

Allen,  Captain  Robert    . .       . .  5 

Allen,  Captain,  R.N 2 

Ames,  Mrs 5 

Ames,  Miss ..  1 

Anon 5 

Armstrong,  Mrs 1 

Armstrong,  children  of  Mrs. . .  0 

Arnold,  Mrs 1 

Arrowsmith,  John,  Esq.        . .  5 
Austin,  Rear-Adm.  Horatio  T., 

R.N.,  C.B ..  5 

Babbage,  Charles,  Esq.      ..  10 

Baikie,  Dr 1 

Baker,  Mrs.    ..      .v      ..      ..  5 

Bark  worth,  Geo.,  Esq 5 

Barras,  Miss 1 

Barrett,  H.  J.,  Esq 1 

Barrow,  John,  Esq 25 

Barstow,  Lieutenant,  R.N.    ..  1 

Barth,  Dr.  Henry 5 

Bath,  W.  J.  C,  Esq 0 

Batty,  Mrs.  J.  M 1 

Beaufort,  Rear-Adm.  Sir  Fran- 
cis, K.C.B 50 

Bell,  Thos.,Esq.,  Pres.Lin.Soc.  10 

Bennett,  John  S.,  Esq 5 

Birch,  J.  W.  N.,  Esq 10 

Bird,  Captain,  R.N 5 

Birmingham,  small  sums  col- 
lected at  Evans's  Library  ..  3 

Booth,  Mrs 5 

Borton,  Mrs.,  collected  by     ..  1 
Boston,  coll.  at,  by  Mr.  Morton     4 

Bovill,  Walter,  Esq 5 

Boyer,  Lieut.  R.N 0 

Boyle,  the  Hon.  Carolina  C.  1 

Brigg,  collected  at         ....  1 

Brine,  Captain,  R.E 1 

Brooking,  J.  Holdsworth,  Esq.  10 

Brown,  Robert,  Esq.,  V.P.L.S.  20 

Brown,  John,  Esq 5 

Brown,  J.  E.,  Esq.,  R.N.      ..  0 

Bruce,  the  Rev.  C.         . .       . .  1 

Burgoyne,  Captain,  R.N.       . .  1 

Burton,  Alfred,  Esq 1 

Byron,  the  Hon.  Fred 5 


Chesney,  Major-General      . .        2     . 
Collinson,  Captain,  R.N.,  C.B.     20     0     0 


s. 

d. 

0 

0 

3 

0 

1 

0 

1 

0 

5 

0 

2 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

8 

9 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

5 

0 

2 

6 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

5 

0 

5 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

2 

0 

0 

0 

Coningham,  W.  Esq.,  M.P. 

Coote,  C.  W.,  Esq. 

Coote,  Charles,  Esq 10 

Courtauld,  Samuel,  Esq. 

Courtauld,  George,  Esq. 

Coutts,  Messrs.,  &  Co 

Crasp,  J.,  Esq.,  Surgeon,  63rd 
Regt ^ 

Crauford,  John,  Esq 

Cresswell,  S.  Gurney,  Com- 
mander, R.N 


£. 

s. 

00 

0 

1 

0 

10 

0 

25 

0 

15 

0 

50 

0 

1 

0 

5 

0 

0 


Dalgety,  F.  T.,  Esq 10  10  0 

De  la  Roquette,  M.,  V.  P.   of 

Geog.  Soc.  of  Paris,  1000  fr.  40  0  0 

Dilke,  C.  W„  Esq 5  0  0 

Dixon,  James,  Esq.       ..       ..  10  0  0 

Doxat,  Alexis  J.,  Esq 10  10  0 

Doxat,  Miss  H.,  collected  by . .  4  0  0 

"Dubious" 0  2  6 

Dufferin,  Lord       25  0  0 


Edgar,  Mrs.,  collected  by    ..  5     0     0 
Ellesmere,  the  Earl  of  . .       ..  15     0     0 
Elphinstone,  the  Hon.  Mount- 
Stewart      10     0     0 

Elton,  Sir  Arthur  H.,  Bart. ..  5     5     0 

Emanuel,  Ezekiel,  Esq 10     0 

Fairholme,  the  Hon.  Mrs. . .  150     0     0 

Filliter,  George,  Esq 10     0     0 

Fitton,  Dr 21     0     0 

Fortescue,  Rev.  T.  F.  G.        . .  2     2     0 

Girling,  H.,  Esq 11 

Gassiot,  J.  P.,  Esq 25     0 

Gimingham,  W.,  Esq.,  &  Mrs.  2     2 

Gipps,  Lady 5     0 

Gowen,  J.  R.,  Esq 5     0 

Graves,  Messrs.,  Pall  Mall    . .  11 

Griffiths,  G.  H.,  Esq 5     5 

Gruneisen,  Ch.  Lewis,  Esq.  . .  11 

Gruneisen,  Mrs 1      1 

Guillemard,  the  Rev.  W.  H. . .  5     0 

Guillemard,  Miss 10 


Hall,  Jas.,  Esq 

Hanbury,  Mrs 

Haidinge,  Commander,  R.  N. 
Hardwicke,  Philip,  Esq. 
Harney,  Julian,  Esq.,  collected 

by,  at  Jersey 

Heales,  Alfred,  Esq 

Herring,  Miss       


0     0 

0 


5 
1     1 

0  10     0 

5     0     0 


50     0 
5     5 

2     2 


Xo.  V. 


APPENDIX. 


401 


£.      s.  d. 

Hicks,  John,  Esq 2     0  0 

Hill,  Col.,  63rd  Eegt.  ..      ..  10  0 

Hodgson,  Mrs 10     0  0 

Holland,  Commander,  R.  X. . .  5     0  0 

Hollingsworth,  H.,  Esq.        . .  2     2  0 

Hollond,  Rob.,  Esq 10   10  0 

Hooker,  Dr.  J.  D 5     5  0 

Hornbv,  Miss  Georgina         ..  100     0  0 
Hornby,  the  Rev.  Edward    ..  25     0  0 
Hornby-;,  Mrs.  Edmund  . .       . .  5     0  0 
Hornby,    Miss  Georgina,   col- 
lected by  13     4  0 

Hovell,  W.  H.,  Esq 5     5  0 

Hughes,  Lieutenant,  R.X.     . .  2     0  0 

Inglis,  Lady        10     0  0 

Irby,T.W.,*Esq 110 

Jackson,  X.  Ward,  Esq.      ..  21     0  0 

Janson,  J.  C,  Esq 5     5  0 

Jeans,  H.  W.,  Esq.,  R.X.      ..  0  10  0 

Jersey"  Times" 2  10  0 

Kellett,  Commodore,  C.B.  10     0  0 

Kendall,  Mrs 10  0 

Kendall,  the  Rev.  Professor  . .  10  0 

Key,  Lieut.,  R.X 0     5  0 

King,  William,  Esq.      ..      ..  5     0  0 

Laerd,  Macgregor,  Esq.       . .  50     0  0 

Laird,  John,  Esq 25     0  0 

L.  and  X.  W 14  0 

Lanford,    J.,    Esq.,    Quarter- 
master 63rd  Regiment      ..  0  10  0 

Langhorne,  A.,  Esq 110 

Larcom,  Mrs 10  0 

Leach,  William,  Esq 5     5  0 

Le  Feuvre,  W.  J.,  Esq.         .,  50     0  0 

Lefroy,  C.  E.,  Esq 2     0  0 

Leicester,  the  Rev.  F.    . .       ; .  110 

Lethbridge,  Lieut,,  R.X.  ..  0  5  0 
"  Lochmaben  Castle,"  Owners 

of  the 5     5  0 

Lyall,  D.  Esq.,  R.X.,  M.D.  ..  5     0  0 

Mackintosh,  Eneas,  Esq.     ..  10     0  0 

Maguire,  Captain,  RX.         . .  3     3  0 

Maitland,  Capt,  Sir  Thos.,  R.X.  10  0 
Majendie,  Ashhurst,  Esq.,  and 

Mrs 100     0  0 

Servants  of  the  above        . .  0  14  0 

Malby,  Messrs 5     0  0 

Malby,  Messrs.,  Workmen  in 

their  Establishment  by  a  6d. 

Subscription      4  11  6 

Mansfield,  W.  H.  S.,  Esq.     ..  0  10  0 

Mantell,  Dr.  A.  A 10  0 

Markham,  Clements,  Esq.     ..  110 

Markham,  Mrs 10  0 

M'Crea,  Captain,  R.X 0   10  0 


s.  a. 
o    o 


MXinlav,  Miss      1 

M'Kinlav,  Miss  Elizabeth      . .  10     0 

M'William,  Dr.,  R.X 110 

Merry,  W.  L.,  Esq 11 

Morris,  Rev.  F.  B 1 

Morris,  Sir  Armine,  Bart.     . .  5     0 
Murchison,  Sir  Roderick  Impev, 
G.C.St.S.,  President  of  the 

Royal  Geographical  Society  100     0 

Murray,  John,  Esq.      ..      .„  20     0 


0 

0     0 


Xares,  Fras.,  Esq 2  2 

Xewall,  W.  L.,  Esq 100  0 

Xicholson,  Sir  Charles . .        . .  5  0 

X.J 2  2 

Xorwood,    collected   at,  by  a 

Lady ..       ..  7  15 

OiDiANXEY,    Capt.  Erasmus, 
R.X 

Osborn,  Sir  George,  Bart. 


Paget,  A.  F.,  Esq. 
Paget,  C.  H.  M.,  Esq.  .. 
Paslev,   Gen.   Sir   Charles 

K.C.B 

Second  Subscription  . . 

Third  Subscription  , . 
Pattinson,  H.  L.,  Esq... 
Pearce,  Stephen,  Esq.  . . 
Phillimore,  Captain,  R.X. 

Pigou,  Fred.,  Esq 

Prescott,     Yice-Admiral 

Henrv,  K.C.B 


W. 


Rawnsley,  the  Rev.  Drum- 
mond 

Rawnsley,  Mrs.,  collected  by 

Rawnsley,  Willingham  Frank- 
lin, collected  by,  at  Upping- 
ham School        

Raynsford,  Mrs 

Reynardson,  H.  B.,  Esq. 

Rogers,  Lieut.,  R.X 


Roper,  Geo.,  Esq 

Ross,  Rear-Admiral  Sir  Jas.  C. 
Rupert's  Land,  Bishop  of 

Sabine,  Major-General 

Sadler,  W.  F.,  Esq 

Sefton,  the  Countess  of 
Shearley,  W.,  Esq. 

Sheil,  Sir  Justin 

Shewell,  John  Tulmin,  Esq. 
Simpson,  J.,  Esq.,  R.X. 

Skey,  Dr 

Smith,  Eric  E.,  Esq 

Smith,  John  Henry,  Esq. 
Smith,  Osborne,  Esq 

9    n 


2 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

10 

6 

1 

1 

0 

10 

0 

0 

10 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

50 

0 

0 

2 

9 

0 

2 

2 

0 

10 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

10 

0 

1 

1 

0 

5 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

5 

5 

0 

21 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

25 

0 

0 

10 

10 

0 

10 

0 

0 

2 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

5 

5 

0 

1 

10 

o 

2 

2 

0 

o 

0 

0 

10 

10 

0 

402 


APPEXDIX. 


No.  Y. 


Smith,  Archibald,  Esq. 
Sparrow,  Jas.,  Esq. 
St.  Asaph,  the  Bishop  of 
St.  David's,  the  Bishop  of 

St.  Leger,  A.  B 

Stainton,  J.  J.,  Esq. 
Statham,  J.  L.,  Esq.     .. 
Stephenson,  Robert,  Esq. 
Stirling,  Commander,  R.N. 
Strzelecki,  Count  P.  de 
Swinburne,  Rear-Admiral 
Sykes,  Col.,M.P 

Taylor,  William,  Esq. 
Tennant,  James,  Esq.    .. 
T.  H.,  collected  in  shillings  by 
Thackeray,  W.  M.,  Esq. 
Thomson,  J.,  Esq. 
Tindal,  Commander,  R.N. 
Tinney,  W.  H.,  Esq.,  Q.C. 
Tite,  W.,  Esq.,  M.P.     .. 
Trevelyan,  Sir  W.  C,  Bart. 
Trevelyan,  Lady    .. 
Trevilian,  M.  C,  Esq.  . . 
Trollope,  Commander,  R.N. 
Tuckett,  Fred.,  Esq.      . . 

Tudor,  J.,  Esq 

Turner,  Alfred,  Esq.     . . 
Tweedie,  W.  M.,  Esq.  . . 

YLT5TCENT,  John,  Esq. 

Walker,  James,  Esq. 


£. 

s. 

5 

5 

5 

0 

0 

10 

0 

0 

10 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

3 

3 

0 

1 

1 

0 

20 

0 

0 

0 

10 

0 

25 

0 

0 

30 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

2 

0 

0 

2 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

1 

1 

0 

2 

2 

0 

20 

0 

0 

50 

0 

0 

40 

0 

0 

10 

0 

0 

2 

2 

0 

2 

2 

0 

5 

0 

0 

0 

10 

0 

15 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

21 

0 

0 

£.  s.  d. 
Washington,    Captain,    R.N., 

Hydrographer  of  the  Navy  21  0  0 

Waterfield,  Edward,  Esq.     . .  5  0  0 

Wayse,  the  Rev.  J.  W.          . .  5  0  0 

Weld,  Charles  R.,  Esq.          ..  5  0  0 

Wheatstone,  Professor  ..       ..  5  0  0 

Willes,  Hon.  Mr.  Justice      ..  21  0  0 

Wilson,  Robert,  Esq 110 

Wittenoom,  Miss ,  110 

Wodehouse,  Commander       ..  0  10  0 

Woodcock,  J.  Parry,  Esq.     . .  5  0  0 

Worsley,  Marcus,  Esq 10  0  0 

Wright,  the  Rev.  R.  E.         . .  2  2  0 

Wrottesley,  Lord 50  0  0 

Young,  Chas.  F.,  Esq.         ..  5  0  0 

Young,  Miss 5  0  0 

Young,  A.  Yerity,  Esq.        ..  2  2  0 

Yule,  Mrs.  H 5  0  0 

The  brother  and  sisters  of  the 
late  John  and  Thomas  Hart- 
nell,  of  H.M.S.   'Erebus/ 

buried  at  Beechey  Island  . .  5  0  0 

A  Commander  R.N 0  5  0 

A  Commander  in  the  Mer- 
chant Service 500  0  0 

A  Friend.     C.  H 5  0  0 

A  Friend        10  0 

The    daughters   of    a   retired 

Commander       2  0  0 

A  Sympathiser      10  0 

£2981  8  9 


A  life-boat,  presented  by  Messrs.  White  of  Cowes. 

A  large  quantity  of  preserved  potatoes,  by  Messrs.  King,  late  Edwards. 

Apparatus  for  lowering  a  boat  at  sea,  presented  by  Mr.  Clifford,  the  inventor. 

Three  travelling-tents,  by  Messrs.  Winsor  and  Newton. 

A  stove,  by  Mr.  Rettie. 

20  dozen  "  Isle  of  Wight  Sauce,"  by  Mr.  Tucker  of  Newport. 

Apparatus  for  reefing  topsails,  from  Mr.  Cunningham,  the  inventor. 


(     403    ) 


EXPENSES  OF  THE  EXPEDITION. 


£.  s.  a. 

Purchase  of  the  '  Fox '  steam  yacht 2,000  0  0 

Strengthening  and  refitting  for  Arctic  service 1,666  15  7 

Engine  repairs  and  alterations      450  0  0 

Engine  stores         256  19  9 

Provisions       ,.      ..     1,374  16  7 

Clothing 240  10  6 

Sundries  for  the  use  of  the  Expedition        189  15  5 

Aberdeen  Steam  Company,  for  carriage  of  stores  and  passage  of 

crew ^    ..         68  13  0 

Provisions,  dogs,  fuel,  &c,  in  Greenland 123  0  6 

Provisions  purchased  from  the  Whaler  '  Emma,'  in  Baffin's  Bay        36  2  5 
Pay  and  wages  to  officers  and  crew,  including  allotments  to 
their  wives  and  families  during  the  absence  of  the  Expe- 
dition *      3,888  2  9 

Pilotage,  boat-hire,  ship-keeper,  dock-labour,  &c 34  11  0 

Carriage  of  boat  from  Liverpool 33  15  0 

Miscellaneous,  including  printers'  bills,  advertisements,   tele- 
grams, legal  expenses,  &c 49  16  6 


£10,412  19     0 


The  above  expenses  of  the  Expedition  would  have  been  considerably  in- 
creased, but  for  the  great  liberality  of  Messrs.  Bayley  and  Bidley,  of  Cooper's 
Court ;  of  the  Directors  of  the  East  and  West  India  Dock  Company ;  of 
Messrs.  Bichard  and  Henry  Green,  Blackwall ;  of  Messrs.  T.  and  W.  Smith, 
of  the  Boyal  Exchange  Buildings  ;  of  Messrs.  Forest,  of  Limehouse ;  and  of  Mr. 
Westhrop,  of  Poplar ;  all  of  whom  placed  their  establishments  at  the  service 
of  Lady  Franklin  on  the  return  of  the  '  Fox,'  and  declined  receiving  any 
remuneration  whatever. 


*  The  crew  of  the  '  Fox  '  received  the  usual  double  pay,  granted  by  the  Admiralty  to  all 
employed  in  Arctic  service. 


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ON  COLOUR ;  and  on  the  Necessity  for  a  General 

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